Scandinavian Scientist Conference
The Scandinavian Scientist Conferences was a series of meetings 1839-1936 for scientists and physicists from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, later also Finland and Iceland, in the era Scandinavism. The scientific community in Scandinavia were small and scattered, but collectively they had by the 1830s attained the critical mass for meeting at conferences. The inspiration came from Germany, where the scientists since 1822 had held conferences to improve communication in the fragmented geopolitical landscape. The creation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science drew on the same source of inspiration.
From the start, the Scandinavian Scientist Conferences became an outlet for important scientific results. However, towards the end of the 19th Century, uni-disciplinary conferences and scientific journals became competitors to the Scandinavian conference as vehicle for scientific communication. As the presentations given at the Scandinavian conferences increasingly were summaries of results already published elsewhere, the meetings lost their importance.
The early meetings were held every second year, then every third year, and then at increasingly irregular intervals. In the 20th Century, only four Scandinavian Scientist Conferences were held, the last in Helsinki 1936.
is speaking. Christopher Hansteen, who presided the 1844 meeting in Oslo, is standing right in front of the speaker. Half-way standing to the left is Japetus Steenstrup. Wall painting by Erik Henningsen in the aula of the University of Copenhagen.
| No. | Year | Venue | No.of participants | Title of printed proceedings | Notable participants |
| 1. | 1839 | Gothenburg | 92 | Förhandlingar vid det af skandinaviska naturforskare och läkare hållna möte i Götheborg år 1839. Götheborg, 1840; 188 pp. | |
| 2. | 1840 | Copenhagen | 303 | Forhandlinger ved de skandinaviske naturforskeres andet möde, der holdtes i Kjöbenhavn fra den 3die til den 9de juli 1840. Kjöbenhavn, J. Jørgensen & Co, 1841; 424 pp. | |
| 3. | 1842 | Stockholm | 436 | ||
| 4. | 1844 | Oslo | 176 | H.C. Ørsted | |
| 5. | 1847 | Copenhagen | 472 | Forhandlinger ved de skandinaviske naturforskeres femte møde, der holdtes i Kiøbenhavn fra den 12te til den 17de juli 1847. Kiøbenhavn, Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1849; 989 pp. | Anders Retzius H.C. Ørsted Elias Fries Japetus Steenstrup |
| 6. | 1851 | Stockholm | 362 | ||
| 7. | 1856 | Oslo | 246 | Forhandlinger ved de skandinaviske naturforskeres syvende möde i Christiania den 12-18 juli 1856. Christiania, Werner, 1857; 658 + 34 pp. | Japetus Steenstrup |
| 8. | 1860 | Copenhagen | 451 | Forhandlinger ved de skandinaviske naturforskeres ottende møde, i Kiøbenhavn fra den 8de til den 14de juli 1860. Kiøbenhavn, Den Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1861; 908 pp. | |
| 9. | 1863 | Stockholm | 713 | ||
| 10. | 1868 | Oslo | 368 | Eugen Warming S.M. Jørgensen | |
| 11. | 1873 | Copenhagen | 418 | Forhandlinger ved de skandinaviske naturforskeres 11te møde i Kjøbenhavn fra den 3die til den 9de juli 1873. Kjøbenhavn, Schultz, 1874; 725 pp. | Eugen Warming Jacob Georg Agardh |
| 12. | 1880 | Stockholm | 734 | Förhandlingar vid de Skandinaviska Naturforskarnes Tolfte Möte i Stockholm från den 7:e till den 14:de Juli 1880. Stockholm, 1883. | Eugen Warming |
| 13. | 1886 | Oslo | 450 | Forhandlinger ved de skandinaviske naturforskeres trettende möde i Christiania 7. - 12. juli 1886. Christiania, Grøndahl, 1887; 194 pp. | |
| 14. | 1892 | Copenhagen | 563 | Beretningen om Forhandlingerne ved de skandinaviske naturforskeres 14. møde i Kjøbenhavn den 4-9. juli 1892. Kjøbenhavn, Ursins eftf., 1892; 683 pp. | Eugen Warming |
| 15. | 1898 | Stockholm | 585 | Förhandlingar vid det 15de Skandinaviska naturforskaremötet i Stockholm den 7-12 juli 1898. Stockholm, Skandinaviska naturforskaremöten, 1899; 415 pp. | Eugen Warming |
| 16. | 1916 | Oslo | 503 | Forhandlinger ved de Skandinaviske naturforskeres 16. møte i Kristiania den 10.-15. juli 1916. Kristiania, 1918 | J.N.F. Wille Eugen Warming Niels Bjerrum Lennart von Post Kaj Birket-Smith Johannes Brøndsted Johannes Fibiger Knud Jessen Wilhelm Johannsen Carl Wesenberg-Lund Astrid Cleve G.E. Du Rietz Hanna Resvoll-Holmsen Thekla Resvoll Svante Arrhenius Otto Nordenskiöld |
| 17. | 1923 | Gothenburg | Förhandlingar vid det 17de Skandinaviska naturforskaremötet i Göteborg den 9-14 juli 1923. Göteborg, Wettergren & Kerber, 1925; 339 pp. | ||
| 18. | 1929 | Copenhagen | Beretning om det 18. Skandinaviske Naturforskermøde i København 26.-31. August 1929". Frederiksberg Bogtrykkeri, København; 551 s. | Lars Onsager Harald Sverdrup | |
| 19. | 1936 | Helsinki | Pohjoismainen luonnontutkijain kokous, Helsingissä elokuun 11-15 pnä 1936 = Nordiska naturforskarmötet i Helsingfors den 11-15 augusti 1936. Helsinki, Skandinaviska naturforskaremöten, 1936; 570 pp. | Niels Bohr Anton F. Bruun Jens Clausen Magnus Degerbøl Knut Fægri Paul Gelting Thorvald Sørensen Ragnar Spärck |