Vilhelm Bjerknes (1862-1951), a pioneer of modern meteorology, was especially known for his studies in hydrodynamics and thermodynamics and their relation to atmospheric motion. Following the steps of his father and even improving on his work, he devised a program of weather analysis and forecasting and founded the Geophysical Institute and Weather Service of Bergen.

Vilhelm Bjerknes was born on March 14, 1862, to Carl Anton Bjerknes, a respected mathematician and physicist, and Aletta Koren, a minister's daughter, in Kristiania (later renamed Oslo), Norway. Bjerknes' father was a devoted researcher of hydrodynamics. He had been a respected teacher of physics, but turned his focus towards the study of fluid-related movement, and also researched comparable studies in electro-dynamic phenomena. The younger Bjerknes was equally devoted to his father, and started working alongside him early in his scientific career. Although he assisted his father in his research, it was not long before...