{{Short description|Norwegian geomagnetist}} {{For|the jurist|Christopher Hansteen (jurist)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Christopher Hansteen |image = Aasta Hansteen - Portrait of Professor Christopher Hansteen - NG.M.00288 - National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.jpg |image_size = |caption = Portrait by Aasta Hansteen |birth_date = {{birth date|1784|11|26|df=y}} |birth_place = Christiania (Oslo) |death_date = {{death date and age|1873|4|11|1784|11|26|df=y}} |death_place = Kristiania (Oslo) |residence = |field = astronomy, mathematics, magnetism, mechanics |work_institutions = Royal Frederick University<br>(1814–1861) |alma_mater = University of Copenhagen |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }} '''Christopher Hansteen''' (26 September 1784 – 11 April 1873) was a Norwegian geophysicist, astronomer and physicist,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} best known for his mapping of Earth's magnetic field.
==Early life and career== Hansteen was born in Christiania as the son of Johannes Mathias Hansteen (1744–1792) and his wife Anne Cathrine Treschow (1754–1829). He was the younger brother of the writer Conradine Birgitte Dunker,<ref name=nbl>{{cite encyclopedia|year=2001|title=Christopher Hansteen|encyclopedia=Norsk biografisk leksikon|first=Arild|last=Stubhaug|volume=4|editor=Helle, Knut|editor-link=Knut Helle|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|url=http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Christopher_Hansteen/utdypning_%E2%80%93_1|language=Norwegian|accessdate=22 March 2009}}</ref> and through her the uncle of Bernhard Dunker and Vilhelmine Ullmann, and granduncle of Mathilde Schjøtt, Ragna Nielsen and Viggo Ullmann.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year=|title=Conradine Dunker|encyclopedia=Norsk biografisk leksikon|first=Astrid|last=Lorenz|volume=|editor=Helle, Knut|editor-link=Knut Helle|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|url=http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Conradine_Dunker/utdypning|language=Norwegian|accessdate=22 March 2009}}</ref> His mother was a first cousin of Niels Treschow.<ref name=nbl/>
The intention was for Hansteen to become a naval officer, but since his father died when Hansteen was young, this plan did not materialize. Instead, he attended Oslo Cathedral School from the age of nine. Niels Treschow was the principal of this school. Hansteen took the examen artium in 1802, and in 1803 he enrolled at the University of Copenhagen, where he originally studied law. He later took more interest in mathematics, estranged by the lack of universal validity of a country's laws compared to the mathematical laws. He had also been inspired by the lectures of Hans Christian Ørsted. He was hired as the tutor of a young noble, Niels Rosenkrantz von Holstein, who lived at Sorø. Here, he also met his future wife Johanne Cathrine Andrea Borch, a daughter of professor Caspar Abraham Borch. In 1806 he was hired as a mathematics teacher in the gymnasium of Frederiksborg.<ref name=nbl/>
==Academic career== In 1807 Hansteen began the inquiries in terrestrial magnetism with which his name is especially associated.<ref name=eb1911>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Hansteen, Christopher|volume=12|pages=931–932}}</ref> His first scientific publication was printed in ''Journal de Physique'', following a contest on magnetic axes created in 1811 by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. In 1813 he was given a research scholarship by the recently established (in 1811) Royal Frederick University in Christiania, with a promise of a future academic position. After marrying Johanne Cathrine Andrea Borch in May 1814, they left for Norway in the summer. Due to the Swedish campaign against Norway in 1814, they opted to travel by sea, and were threatened by a Swedish privateer as well as seized by a British frigate en route. Reaching Norway after five days, they settled in the street Pilestredet.<ref name=nbl/>
Working as a lecturer from 1814, in 1816 Hansteen was promoted to professor of astronomy and applied mathematics. He was the editor of the official Norwegian almanac from 1815, manager of the city astronomical observatory from the same year and co-director of the Norwegian Mapping Authority (then known as ''Norges Geografiske Oppmåling'') from 1817.<ref name=nbl/> In 1819 he published a volume of researches on terrestrial magnetism, which was translated into German under the title of ''Untersuchungen über den Magnetismus der Erde'', with a supplement containing ''Beobachtungen der Abweichung und Neigung der Magnetnadel'' and an atlas. By the rules there framed for the observation of magnetical phenomena Hansteen hoped to accumulate analyses for determining the number and position of the magnetic poles of the Earth.<ref name=eb1911/> In 1822 he co-founded Norway's first journal on natural sciences, ''Magazin for Naturvidenskaberne''. He sat as editor-in-chief for eight years.<ref name=nbl/>
In the course of his research he travelled over Finland and the greater part of his own country; and from 1828 to 1830 he undertook, in company with Georg Adolf Erman and with the co-operation of Russia, a government-funded mission to Western Siberia. A narrative of the expedition soon appeared (''Reise-Erinnerungen aus Siberien'', 1854; ''Souvenirs d'un voyage en Sibérie'', 1857); but the chief work was not issued until 1863 (''Resultate magnetischer Beobachtungen'').<ref name=eb1911/> He did not resolve the issue at hand, but his work was later completed by Carl Friedrich Gauss. Shortly after the return of the mission, in 1833 Hansteen moved with his family into the observatory, which was created from drawings by the architect Christian Heinrich Grosch.<ref name=nbl/> A magnetic observatory was added in 1839.<ref name=eb1911/>
From 1835 to 1838 he published textbooks on geometry and mechanics,<ref name=eb1911/> largely a reaction to his former research assistant Bernt Michael Holmboe's textbooks. Compared to Holmboe's method of teaching, Hansteen's books were more practically oriented. After Holmboe wrote a review of the first textbook for the newspaper ''Morgenbladet'', in which he advised schools not to use it, a public debate followed, with contributions from other mathematicians. It has been claimed that this was the first debate on the subject of school textbooks in Norway. Holmboe's textbooks proved more lasting, with Hansteen's textbook not being reprinted.<ref>{{cite news|first=Arild |last=Stubhaug |title=Den inspirerende læreren |work=Forskning.no |date=25 May 2004 |accessdate=22 March 2009 |url=http://www.forskning.no/Artikler/2004/mai/1084540184.71/artikkel_print |language=Norwegian |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929115955/http://www.forskning.no/Artikler/2004/mai/1084540184.71/artikkel_print |archivedate=29 September 2007 }}</ref> In 1842 Hansteen wrote his ''Disquisitiones de mutationibus, quas patitur momentum acus magneticae''. He also contributed various papers to different scientific journals, especially ''Magazin for Naturvidenskaberne''.
Hansteen was a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters from 1818 and of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1857, as well as several learned societies in other countries, including the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1822) and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1863).<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter H|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterH.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|accessdate=9 September 2016}}</ref> He was a member of the board of the Royal Norwegian Society for Development for many years, and also chaired the board of the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry.<ref name=nbl/>
==Later life== For health reasons, Hansteen stopped holding lectures in 1856. In 1861 he retired from active work, but still pursued his studies,<ref name=nbl/> his ''Observations de l'inclination magnetique'' and ''Sur les variations séculaires du magnetisme'' appearing in 1865.<ref name=eb1911/> He left the position as observatory manager in 1861 as well, but continued as editor of the Norwegian almanac until 1863 and as director of the Norwegian Mapping Authority until 1872.<ref name=nbl/>
His wife died in 1840. Their daughter Aasta Hansteen became a notable women's rights campaigner. He was the paternal great-grandfather of Kristofer Hansteen and Edvard Heiberg Hansteen; trade unionist Viggo Hansteen was a later descendant. Christopher Hansteen died in April 1873 in Christiania, and is buried at Gamle Aker kirkegård. The funeral took place at the university.<ref name=nbl/>
==Awards and legacy== Hansteen was appointed a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1847, and received the Grand Cross in 1855. He was also appointed a Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog and a Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star, as well as other foreign orders of knighthood. A bust of Hansteen was raised at his observatory in the 1850s.<ref name=nbl/>
thumb|''Christopher Hansteens vei''. The crater Hansteen and the mountain Mons Hansteen on the Moon are named after him.<ref name="usgs_crater">{{cite web |title=Planetary Names |url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2354 |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=7 January 2026}}</ref><ref name="usgs_mons">{{cite web |title=Planetary Names – MOON – Mons Hansteen |url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3985 |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=7 January 2026}}</ref> In Oslo, the road ''Christopher Hansteens vei'' at Blindern has been named after Hansteen. In addition, a street at Majorstuen was named ''Hansteens gate'', but in 1879 it was renamed ''Holmboes gate'' in honour of Bernt Michael Holmboe.<ref name=oby>{{cite encyclopedia|year=2000|title=Holmboes gate|encyclopedia=Oslo byleksikon|edition=4|editor=Tvedt, Knut Are|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|page=195|isbn=82-573-0815-3}}</ref> In the Møhlenpris neighbourhood in Bergen, the street ''Professor Hansteens gate'' was named after Hansteen in 1881.<ref name=bby>{{cite encyclopedia|year=1999|title=Professor Hansteens gate|encyclopedia=Bergen byleksikon|edition=1|editor=Hartvedt, Gunnar Hagen|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Bergen|page=377|isbn=82-573-1036-0|url=http://www.nb.no/utlevering/contentview.jsf?urn=URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2008090104084#&struct=DIV378|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130223060750/http://www.nb.no/utlevering/contentview.jsf?urn=URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2008090104084%23&struct=DIV378|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 February 2013}}</ref>
==See also== * Scandinavian Scientist Conference
==References== {{Reflist}} {{FRS 1839}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansteen, Christopher}} Category:Scientists from Oslo Category:Norwegian astronomers Category:19th-century astronomers Category:Norwegian physicists Category:Norwegian almanac editors Category:University of Copenhagen alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Oslo Category:People educated at Oslo Cathedral School Category:Directors of government agencies of Norway Category:Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Category:Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Category:1784 births Category:1873 deaths Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog Category:Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Category:Norwegian fellows of the Royal Society