Born 04.11.1967 in Drammen, Norway
Education
- 1993 Cand. Scient. in Paleontology at the University of Oslo : "Snout and orbit of Cretaceous Asian multituberculates studied by serial sections".
- 1997 Ph.D. in Paleontology at the University of Oslo. "Cranial structure and relationships of Mongolian Late Cretaceous multituberculate mammals".
Held positions:
- 1998-2000: Post Doc, University of Oslo
- 2000-2013: Associate professor in Paleontology at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
- 2010 – now: Adjunct Professor, Paleontology at UniS (University Studies at Svalbard, Longyearbyen)
- 2013 – now: Professor in Vertebrate Paleontology at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
In my scientific career I have published on mammals from the Cretaceous, Paleocene and Eocene, dinosaurs from the Cretaceous and marine reptiles from the Triassic and Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. So far I have more than 40 peer reviewed scientific papers published , I have also given more than 60 scientific talks and/or abstracts at national and international meetings.
I am genuinely interested in outreach work and have published 55 popular science publications and 7 popular science books in Norwegian. I have made regular contributions to Norwegian radio, TV and newspapers commenting on paleontological and evolutionary issues with more than 500 media appearances and interviews registered, these figures do not include the media coverage around Ida in 2009, it was too overwhelming to be documented properly (more than 10.000 news articles and approximately 300 interviews). I co-hosted a popular science talk show in Norwegian radio for half a year (Hurum and Ødegaard, Kanal24) and I had my own weekly part of a children's science show on TV (Jørns hjørne in Newton, NRK1).
I have given more than 350 popular science talks in many different settings from kindergartens, for politicians and royalty. Five (5) full documentaries about my research have been made by National Geographic (1), History Channel/BBC/ZDF (2) and Norwegian Broadcasting –NRK (2).
Awards
- In 2011 I received the award of Emerging Explorer by National Geographic for my work on Svalbard and on Ida (Darwinius masillae).
- Outreach Prize (Formidlingsprisen) from the University of Oslo 2001.
- Commemorative Prize for Outreach (Toffenprisen) from the Norwegian Geological Society 2003
- Curiosity Outreach Prize (Æresnysgjerrigper-prisen) from the Norwegian Research Council in 2008. This Honour Prize for popular science work for children was first won by Thor Heyerdahl and I am the second and only other person it has been awarded to so far.
- The Peoples Outreach Price (Folkeopplysningsprisen fra Voksenopplæringsforbundet) 2009
- Outreach Prize (Formidlingsprisen) from the Norwegian Research Council in 2009
For documentation see Cristin