Waldemar Christofer Brøgger (geologist)

Waldemar Christofer Brøgger ForMemRS FRSE (10 November 1851 – 17 February 1940) was a Norwegian geologist and mineralogist. His research on Permian igneous rocks (286 to 245 million years ago) of the Oslo district greatly advanced petrologic theory on the formation of rocks.

Life

He was born and died in Oslo, Norway, then called Christiania. He attended the Cathedral School in Oslo before studying at Oslo University.

He was professor of mineralogy and geology from 1881 to 1890 in the University of Stockholm, and from 1890 to 1916 was Professor of Mineralogy and Palaeontology in the University of Christiania. He also became rector and president of the senate of the royal university of Christiania.

His observations on the igneous rocks of South Tyrol compared with those of Christiania afford much information on the relations of the granitic and basic rocks. The subject of the differentiation of rock-types in the process of solidification as plutonic or volcanic rocks from a particular magma received much attention from him. He dealt also with the Palaeozoic rocks of Norway, and with the late glacial and post-glacial changes of sea level in the Christiania region.

He is credited for proposing that pegmatites form through the interaction of silicate melt and supercritical water. Credit for this discovery is often given to Richard H. Jahns.

He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1890 and a fellow of the Royal Society.

The honorary degree of Ph.D. was conferred upon him by the University of Heidelberg and that of LL.D. by the University of Glasgow in 1901. He was awarded the Murchison Medal in 1891 and the Wollaston Medal in 1911, both by the Geological Society of London.