"The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot."

    - Mark Twain

Profession and work
I have a doctorem scientiarum (PhD) degree in astronomy from the University of Oslo (2000).

As of 1. March 2008 I am the national coordinator (daglig leder) of the international year of astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) in Norway. The norwegian web-page for "astronomiċret 2009" (IAĊ2009) is located at . Prior to this I was a post-doctoral researcher (2005-2008) at the Institute of theoretical astrophysics, University of Oslo (grant from the Norwegian Research Council). During 2000 - 2005 I worked as fellow and later as staff astronomer at the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal in northern Chile. I work closely with colleagues at the DARK Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Insititute in Copenhagen. In 2007 a young group of colleagues and I started working to establish a center for observational astronomy (in norwegian) in Norway. My hope is to create a broader basis for a future Norwegian membership in ESO and the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).

Here are some links to my publication records : , or

Publications in FRIDA

Personal
I am a keen sailor, although I have not sailed much in the latter decades of my life. In my youth I dream of surfing the oceans in a Finnish boat such as the majestic Baltic 52. Now, I am a determined fan of the elegant Nautor Swan (especially the G. Frers designed Swan 40 and 48).

Contact: