Welcome to CWP at UCLA 

86 Eminent Physicists



Search the Archive


Fascinating Documents


AnnotatedPhoto Gallery


In Her Own Words


Some Physics History


500+ Books and Articles


Project Staff


Field Editors


Project Support


Photo Credits

Education and the Profession

Contributions
Publications
Honors

Kirstine Bjerrum Meyer

1861-1941
Jobs/Positions
Education
Additional Information

Some Important Contributions:

Her Ph.D. dissertation, Temperaturbegrebets Udvikling gennem Tiderne (The Development of the Temperature Concept through Time), was an important treatise on the history of the temperature concept.

Meyer edited a major part of the collected works of Hans Christian Ørstedand included in it her essay presenting his biography, "The Scientific Life and Works of H. C. Ørsted".

Wrote a biography of the Danish natural philosopher Erasmus Bartholin,Radium og radioaktive Stoffer samt nyere Opdagelser angaaende Straaler (Radium, Radioactive Materials, and New Discoveries Concerning Radiation).

Discovered Ole Roemer's notebook "Adversaria" in the archives of the University of Copenhagen Library in 1910. She provided valuable information for the history of science in her research of this document.

In 1902 she founded the Danish journal of physic Fysisk Tidsskrift which replaced the former Nyt Tidsskrift for Fysik og Kemi (New Journal of Physics and Chemistry). She was its editor 1902-13.

Some Important Publications:

Temperaturbegrebets udvikling gennem tiderne samt dets sammenhaeng med vexlende forestillinger om varmens natur DISSERTATION (1909)

Ørsted, Hans Christian Scientific papers, Copenhagen, (1920) (in Danish, 3 volumes).

Radium og radioaktive Stoffer samt nyere Opdagelser angaaende Straaler København, Gyldendal, 1904

Römer, Ole Ole Römers Adversaria, København, B. Lunos bogtrykkeri, 1910.

Honors:

1899 Gold Medal of the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letter

    for her paper entitled "Om overensstemmende Tilstande hos Stofferne". The prize subject was "to examine whether there exists a general equation of state for all fluid bodies." The paper is published in the Academy series SN 6.IX.3 pp.155-225 (1899).

Jobs/Positions:

1885 - 1909 High School Teacher
1910 - 1932 Scientific staff member for High School Education Inspectorate
1902 - 1913 Editor, Danish journal of physic Fysisk Tidsskrift

Education:

Master's Degree in physics, University of Copenhagen, 1893
Ph.D., Physics, University of Copenhagen, 1909.

Sources and References consulted:

Volker Thomsen and [5A12 DSB]

Additional Information/Comments:

She was the aunt of physical chemist Niels Janniksen Bjerrum: see [5A12 DSB].

She was not only the aunt of Niels Janniksen Bjerrum, she was also, according to his own memory, the initiator or the person who inspired him to study science. - Obituary in Fysisk Tidsskrift XL, 1942, 175-91.


Field Editor:

Gerald Holton
<holton@physics.harvard.edu>

Submitted by:

Ben Johnson
<secwp@physics.ucla.edu>

Original citer's name:

Volker Thomsen
<vbet1951@aol.com>

Copyright © CWP and Regents of the University of California 1997 - 2001

To cite this citation:
" Meyer, Kirstine Bjerrum." CWP < home >

BACK TO THE TOP


latest revision {4/30/97 mjw} 3/16/01 nb