Background
Mikkel Pederson Escholt was born c. 1610 probably in Schonen, Sweden. Nothing more is known about his background.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
book
Geología norvegica
(Geología norvegica gives a clear and modern view of geolo...)
Geología norvegica gives a clear and modern view of geological phenomena, with numerous apt references from both classic and recent literature.
https://www.amazon.com/instructive-remembrancer-concerning-earthquake-scientifica/dp/B0006F031A/?tag=2022091-20
1657
Mikkel Pederson Escholt
Edit ProfileEducation
Escholt studied theology in Copenhagen.
Career
Escholt became chaplain of the castle at Akershus Castle in Christiania in 1646. He seems to have acted as an intelligence officer during the campaigns to reconquer the provinces lost by Denmark-Norway to Sweden by the treaty of Bromsebro (1645). In 1660 he was rewarded with the parish of Vestby in Óstfold. When he died his oldest son inherited the parish.
His present scientific reputation stems from his book Geología norvegica (1657). It is the first scientific treatise printed in Norway and also one of the first books printed in Norwegian. The book was written to calm the populace who felt doom approaching because of the slight but distinctly felt earthquake of April 24, 1657. Escholt demonstrated the rather unusual regularity of the earthquakes (two each century) in the Oslo region and was aware of the relationship of earthquakes to volcanism.
His only other known works are brilliantly written but highly polemic theological papers.
Escholt does not seem to have influenced or been in contact with contemporary scientists in Copenhagen, and he is barely mentioned in Garboe’s exhaustive history of geology in Denmark.
Achievements
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Mikkel Pederson Escholt is best remembered for his work Geología norvegica, which gives a clear and surprisingly modern view of geological phenomena, with numerous apt references from both classic and recent literature. He was also the first to use the word “geology” in the modern sense - as the science of the earth. Through an English translation of his book, the word came into use in the scientific literature in the following decade.
Works
book
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Geología norvegica
(Geología norvegica gives a clear and modern view of geolo...)
1657
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Geología norvegica
Connections
It is known that Escholt had a son, but no detailed information is available.
Career
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1645
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1646