Störmer, Fredrik Carl Mülertz

BornSkien, (Norway), 3 September 1874

DiedBlindern, Norway, 13 August 1957

Carl Störmer made substantial contributions to the understanding of polar auroral displays, from both theoretical and empirical viewpoints. His findings also had wider application to the study of cosmic rays.

Störmer was the son of Georg Ludvig Störmer, a pharmacist, and Henriette Mülertz. He attended the national university at Christiania (now Oslo) from 1892 to 1897. Störmer was awarded a candidatus realium (graduate) degree in the following year, and then offered a 5-year research fellowship, which allowed him to conduct advanced studies at the Sorbonne (Paris) and Göttingen University. In 1900, he married Ada Clauson; the couple had five children.

Störmer was appointed professor of pure mathematics at the University of Oslo in 1903; he occupied this post for 43 years, until his retirement in 1946. There, his colleague, physicist Kristian Birkeland , introduced him to the nature of cathode rays and their...