Jump to content

Valter Schytt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Valter Schytt
Born(1919-10-17)17 October 1919
Solna, Sweden
Died30 March 1985(1985-03-30) (aged 65)
Sollentuna, Sweden
NationalitySwedish
CitizenshipSweden
Alma materStockholm University
AwardsPatron's Medal (1981)
Vega Medal (1981)
Scientific career
FieldsGlaciology
InstitutionsStockholm University
Northwestern University
Naturvetenskapliga forskningsrådet

Stig Valter Schytt (17 October 1919 – 30 March 1985) was a Swedish glaciologist. [1]

Biography

[edit]

Schytt was born at Solna in Stockholm, Sweden. He studied physics and mathematics at Stockholm University and was awarded Master of Philosophy in 1946, Licentiate in 1947 and Ph. D in 1958. He became a lector in geography at Stockholm University in 1943, glaciologist with the Swedish Antarctic Committee in 1948, research associate at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1953 and assistant teacher in geography at Stockholm University in 1955. He became associated with the Swedish Research Council (Naturvetenskapliga forskningsrådet) in 1963, an assistant professor in 1969 and was a professor from 1970. In 1974 he was elected into the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.[2] [3]

He participated in the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition polar expedition to the Antarctic 1949–52. He also participated in important expeditions to Canada in 1954, to Greenland in 1954, to Spitsbergen in 1956, 1957, 1958 and Deception Island in 1977. Schytt is mainly associated with the Ymer-80 expedition carried out by the icebreaker Ymer during the summer of 1980.[4] [5]

Schytt initiated the glacier mass balance studies at Storglaciären in the Tarfala Valley. Started in 1945/46, it is the longest continuous study of this type in the world. He was promoting the Tarfala research station since its start. He died at the research station during a winter visit in March 1985.

Awards and Recognitions

[edit]

For his outstanding work on the Ymer-80 Expedition, Valter Schytt was awarded the Vega Medal, the highest award of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, in 1981.[2] Also in 1981, Valter was awarded the Patron's Medal from the Royal Geographical Society.[6]

Schytt Glacier in Antarctica was named in honour of Stig Valter Schytt.[7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Valter Schytt (1919-1985)". Göteborgs universitet. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Blake Jr, Weston. "Valter Schytt (1919- 1985)" (PDF). Arctic Institute of North America. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  3. ^ Per Holmlund. "S Valter Schytt". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  4. ^ University of Cambridge. "Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1949-1952". Scott Polar Research Institute. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  5. ^ Schytt, Valter (1983). "YMER-80: A Swedish Expedition to the Arctic Ocean". The Geographical Journal. 149 (1): 22–28. doi:10.2307/633339. JSTOR 633339.
  6. ^ "Recipients 1970 - 2016" (PDF). Royal Geographical Society. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  7. ^ Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from "Schytt Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
[edit]