Sophus Tromholt

Who was Sophus Tromholt?

Sophus Tromholt was a Danish teacher, astrophysicist and an amateur photographer. He worked as a teacher at Tanks school in Bergen, Norway 1876-82. In 1882 he was granted a scholarship by the Danish/Norwegian state to study the northern lights. During the polar year 1882/83, he established a scientific northern light center in Kautokeino. His Northern light studies pioneered the modern Northern light science.

During his stay in Northern Norway he photographed for the project, the landscape and the Sami people. His character portraits of the Sami are of high aesthetic quality artistically and as ethnographic photography. The photo collection is owned by the University of Bergen Library, Special collections, and consists of 231 glass negatives and 189 albumen prints in a portfolio: Sophus Tromholt: Billeder fra Lappernes Land. Tableaux du Pays des Lapons. 1883.

In 2014 Bergens Tidende said that "Now his pictures have become part of the World Heritage.