Filip Hjulström

Who was Filip Hjulström?

Henning Filip Hjulström was a Swedish geographer. Hjulström was professor of geography at Uppsala University from 1944, and in 1949, when the subject of geography was split, he became professor of Physical Geography.

Filip Hjulström's doctoral thesis, "The River Fyris", contained one of the first quantitative studies of geomorphological processes ever published. It was a study of sediment transport and soil erosion in the drainage area of the river Fyrisån, based on a daily water sample that he took as he passed on the way to the department, and analyzed for suspended sediment content. His students followed in the same vein, making quantitative studies of mass transport, fluvial transport, delta deposition, and coastal processes. This developed into "the Uppsala School of Physical Geography".

Hjulström is most known for creating the Hjulström curve, which describes the thresholds for erosion and deposition of particles in running water.