The Northern Light

1 The Northern Light in Folklore and Mythology.- 1.1 The Enigmatic and Mysterious Northern Lights.- 1.2 The Northern Light - A Vengeful Being.- 1.3 The Northern Light - Flames from the Realm of the Dead.- 1.4 The Northern Light in Mythology.- 1.5 The Northern Light as an Omen of War, Disaster and Plagues.- 2 The Northern Light in Norse Literature.- 2.1 Local Peculiarities are Reflected in Mythology.- 2.2 Norse Literature.- 2.3 The Northern Light - Reflections from the Shields of the Valkyrjes.- 2.4 The Saga Literature (Old Norse Prose Narrative) Describes Many Light Phenomena.- 2.5 The Edda Poems as Referenced in International Literature on the Northern Light.- 2.6 Impact of Fritz's References to the Poetic Edda.- 2.7 Traces of the Northern Light in Edda Literature.- 2.8 In Norse Literature - Only Meager References to the Northern Light?.- 3 The Northern Light - A Source of Inspiration.- 3.1 The Northern Light and the Midnight Sun - Characteristic Manifestations of the Polar Sky.- 3.2 The Northern Light an Inspiration for Writers.- 3.3 Twentieth Century Norwegian Poems Touching on the Northern Light.- 3.4 Colourful Descriptions of the Northern Lights.- 4 Accounts of Northern Lights in Scandinavia - From the Viking Era to the Renaissance.- 4.1 Old Known Auroral Records.- 4.2 How Ancient Philosophers Regarded the Northern Light.- 4.3 The King's Mirror Gives the Vikings' Theories About the Northern Light.- 4.4 An Ancient Arabian Description of the Northern Light in Scandinavia.- 4.5 Olaus Magnus' Reference to the Greek Scholars.- 4.6 The Famous Astronomer Tycho Brahe Observed the Position of Auroral Coronas with Great Accuracy.- 4.7 Absalon Pedersson Beyer Made the First Drawings of the Aurora in Norway.- 4.8 Confusing Descriptions of the Northern Light by Peder Clausson Friis.- 4.9 Petter Dass Did Not Mention the Northern Light.- 4.10 Norway's First Historiographer, Thormod Torfaeus Discusses the Northern Light.- 5 The Northern Light in Scandinavia During the Eighteenth Century.- 5.1 Suno Arnelius Wrote the First Scientific Treatise on Aurora in Scandinavia.- 5.2 Jonas Ramus Associated the Northern Light with Magnetism.- 5.3 Jens Christian Spidberg, the First Scandinavian who Wrote a Book on the Northern Light.- 5.4 Johan Heitman - A Layman's View of the Northern Light.- 5.5 Ludvig Holberg Recommended Heitman's Book.- 5.6 Peter Moller's Reactions to Heitman's Book.- 5.7 Joachim Frederik Ramus - The First Norwegian Natural Scientist who Wrote an Auroral Paper.- 5.8 Anders Celsius Set Out on a New Course in Auroral Research.- 5.9 Olof Peter Hiorter - The Northern Light and the Compass Needle...- 5.10 The First "Artificial Northern Light" was Produced by a Poet.- 5.11 Lars Barhow - An Active Observer of the Northern Light.- 5.12 Erich Pontoppidan - The Northern Light is "an Electrical Phenomenon".- 5.13 Gerhard Schoning Compiled Literature of the Northern Light.- 5.14 Erich Johan Jessen-Schardeboll Describes the Geographic Location of the Northern Light.- 5.15 Torben Bergman Measured the Height of the Northern Light.- 5.16 Johan Carl Wilcke - The Center of an Auroral Corona is the Axis of Its Magnetic Field Line.- 5.17 Johan Ernst Gunnerus Suggested that There Must be a Northern Light Around Venus and Mercury.- 5.18 Maximillian Hell's Expedition to Vardo in Norway.- 6 Scientific Auroral Experiments Beginning in the Nineteenth Century.- 6.1 Christopher Hansteen and Hans Christian Orsted Inspired Auroral Research.- 6.2 Anders Jonas Angstrom, the Northern Lights Come from Luminous Gas.- 6.3 Karl Selim Lemstrom, the Northern Light was an Electric Discharge Between Earth and the Sky.- 6.4 Erik Edlund's Theory of the Northern Light.- 6.5 Sophus Tromholt Investigated the Periodic Occurrence of the Northern Light.- 6.6 The Statistical Occurrence of the Northern Lights.- 6.7 Adam Paulsen Launched the Cosmic Theory.- 6.8 Svante Arrhenius Expands de Mairan's Theory.- 6.9 The Concept of the Auroral Ring.- 7 Norwegian Auroral Pioneers in the Dawn of Our Century.- 7.1 Professor Carl Frederik Mulertz Stormer Mapped the Auroral Forms.- 7.2 Stormer Mapped the Geographic Distribution of the Northern Light.- 7.3 Stormer Accurately Determined the Height of the Northern Light Once and For All.- 7.4 Professor Lars Vegard Studied the Colours of the Northern Light.- 7.5 Professor Kristian Olaf Bernhard Birkeland - A Pioneer in Auroral Research.- 8 The Northern Lights as Weather Signs - and the Auroral Sound.- 8.1 The Northern Lights - A Sign in the Sky of Changing Weather.- 8.2 The Northern Light was Often Called "Windlight".- 8.3 The Northern Light as a Weathersign in the Northern Countries.- 8.4 The Northern Lights Used as a Weather Prediction.- 8.5 Satellite Observations Have Again Brought the Relationship Between Weather and Northern Light into Focus.- 8.6 Can the Aurora be Heard?.- 8.7 Can Sound Propagate From the Auroral Altitude Down to the Ground?.- 9 Northern Lights and Geomagnetic Disturbances - Their Influence on Daily Life.- 9.1 The Northern Light - A Useful Light Source.- 9.2 The Aurora and Electrical Disturbances.- 9.3 Disturbances on Power Lines During Periods of High Solar Activity.- 9.4 Magnetic Storms and Cable Communication.- 9.5 Effect of Auroral and Geomagnetic Disturbances on Navigation.- 9.6 Geological Survey and Geomagnetic Disturbances.- 9.7 Auroral Disturbances and Radio Communication.- 9.8 Biological Influences on Man Due to Electromagnetic and Particle Radiations From the Sun.- 10 Auroral Research as a Tool to Study the Upper Atmosphere and Near Space.- 10.1 The Northern Light was Used to Determine the Height of the Atmosphere.- 10.2 Composition of the Atmosphere in the Height Region 100-300 km Above Ground.- 10.3 The Solar Wind - The Main Source of the Northern Lights.- 10.4 The Northern Light Can be Used to Study Properties of the Sun.- 10.5 The Magnetic Field of the Earth is the Guideline of the Northern Light.- 10.6 The Geographic Position of the Northern Light has Changed with Time.- 10.7 A Simplified Modern Theory of the Northern Light.- 10.8 The Auroral Oval.- 10.9 The Northern Light and Auroral Particles.- 10.10 Hannes Olof Gosta Alfven Won the Nobel Prize in 1970 Partly for his Work on Auroral Physics.- 11 The First Systematic Observations of the Northern Light in Norway.- 11.1 The First Auroral Observations in ALTA, Northern Norway.- 11.2 Birkeland's Expeditions into North Norway.- 11.3 Norway's First Permanent Auroral Observatory on Haldde in KaQord.- 11.4 The First Plans for a Geophysical Institute in Tromso.- 11.5 The Auroral Observatory in Tromso - 1927-1930.- 11.6 Basic Instruments for Auroral Studies.- 11.7 Ground Based Measurements of the Earth's Magnetic Field and the Upper Atmosphere.- 11.8 The European Incoherent Scatter Facility (EISCAT).- 11.9 Andoya Rocket Range.- 12 Summary and Concluding Remarks.- Appendix 1: List of Scandinavian Authors Until 1800.- Appendix 2: Map of Scandinavia.- Appendix 3: Auroral Observatories.- References.- Name Index.