50 år med nordljoset / 50 Years of Northern Lights

"Som student vart eg i 1966 engasjert som vitskapeleg assistent av NIKF (Norsk Institutt for Kosmisk Fysikk) for å installere vitskapeleg utstyr i Ny-Ålesund på vegne av Nordlysobservatoriet. Etter ein vinter i kolmørkret vart eg oppslukt av nordljoset både som eit kulturelt fenomen og som forskingsobjekt. Nordlyset viste vegen verda rundt. EISCAT vart som eit fylgje på reisene der ny forsking vart vunne og nye land kom til.

Eg vil freiste gje nokre inntrykk frå dei gledene og utfordringane eg har hatt i arbeidet ved Universitet i Tromsø gjennom eit halvt år hundre."

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On the occasion of the university’s 50^th anniversary, the Department of Science and Technology’s 2018 lunch seminars will have a historical angle. Senior researchers in the department will discuss developments in their respective fields while considering the history of those disciplines over the past decades. This time, physicist and pioneer Asgeir Brekke will offer his perspective.

“As a student in 1966, I worked as a research assistant at NICP (Norwegian Institute of Cosmic Physics) to install research equipment in Ny-Ålesund on behalf of the Northern Lights Observatory. After spending the entire winter in complete darkness, I was utterly engrossed by the northern lights as a cultural phenomenon as well as an object of research. The northern lights led the path around the world. EISCAT was like a companion on the journey between new discoveries and other countries joined the research as well.

I would like to share some of the joys and challenges I have faced over the past 50 years while working at the University of Tromsø.”