Lauge Koch

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Lauge Koch (1892-1964) was a renowned leader of 24 Danish government expeditions to Greenland.[1] He is a central character in The Lauge Koch Controversy an International and intra-national conflict. beginning in December 1935 a bitter conflict arose between the Danish geologist and Arctic explorer Lauge Koch, and eleven of the most prominent Danish geologists of the day, including O.B. Bøggild, director of The Mineralogical Museum and only professor at the Geological Institute of Copenhagen University, and Victor Madsen, head of the Geological Survey of Denmark.

Controversy started with a review of the Lauge Koch book ‘Geologie von Grönland” (1935) written by ‘the eleven’ and accusing Koch of poor and improper scientific practice.[2][3] Relating to the years 1921-23 in which Lauge Koch conducted the Bi-centennary Jubilee Expedition to North Greenland in the year of the bi-centennary jubilee of Hans Egede's landing in Greenland. Koch made a sledge journey along the north coast of Greenland, round Peary Land and back across the Inland Ice. On this journey Koch discovered a depression which in his opinion was the one that Robert Peary in 1892 had mistaken for a channel. Koch's observations of the interior of Independence Bay led to considerable cartographic changes compared with the Peter Freuchen map of 1912.[4]

In 1938 Dr. Lauge Koch found in the mountains west of Jameson Land, near Scoresby Sound, the Skeleton of a huge extinct mammal similar to the head of a gigantic animal with huge teeth found by Professor Selim Hassan in 1935 near the pyramid of Chephren in South America. The skeleton found by Koch was displayed at the museum in Copenhagen[5]

Amongst his other contributions to the sciences, in the mid-1930’s, Koch established a network of field stations and traveling huts in Central East Greenland. This establishment of a permanent infrastructure in the field caused a change in the whole culture and organization of Danish Arctic exploration. [6]

The mineral Kochite which is found in Mt Hvide Ryg, Werner Bjerge, and Tunu Province, Greenland is named for Koch in honor of his explorations in the same areas. [7] [8] [9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lauge Koch (1892-1964) (web and PDF). Obituary. The Arctic Institute of North America. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
  2. ^ Christopher Jacob Ries, Roskilde University (2007). The Lauge Koch Controversy: International Cooperation and intra-national onflict in Danish arctic research 1930-1940 (web). Ideologies and Controversies in 20th Century Scientific Exploration. Steno Institute. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
  3. ^ Michael Bravo, Sverker Sörlin (2002). Narrating the Arctic: A Cultural History of Nordic Scientific. Science History Publications/USA, Page 197. ISBN 088135385X. 
  4. ^ The Bi-centennary Jubilee Expedition 1920-23at eng.jubie
  5. ^ Wilkins, Harold T. (1998). Secret Cities of Old South America. Adventures Unlimited Press, page 326. ISBN 0932813550. 
  6. ^ Christopher J. Ries, Roskilde University, Denmark. Cartography, authority and credibility. Field Study. fieldstudies.dk. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
  7. ^ Kochite Mineral Data
  8. ^ Kochite
  9. ^ Kochite from Mt Hvide Ryg (north slope), Werner Bjerge, Tunu (East Greenland) Province, Greenland