Three cheers for the new Honorary Nysgjerrigper!

A group of specially invited and casual guests awaited the dedicated scientist at the Kon-Tiki Museum. Once Jørn arrived, the audience got to hear about trilobites, about the tiny raptor dinosaurs and, of course, about the discovery of the fossil remains left by one of the world's largest marine monster reptiles on Svalbard (Spitsbergen).

"I feel very proud to be named an Honorary Nysgjerrigper", says Jørn to Nysgjerrigper. The fact that the prize is awarded only in special cases makes it very exclusive, and I feel very honoured to receive it", Jørn smiles. The worldly researcher is clearly very proud of being accorded this distinction.

Jørn working on an excavation at Svalbard, his favorite field trip destination.
Foto: Jørn Hurum

An early start

Jørn tells us that the Nysgjerrigper spark was ignited in him at the age of six. At the local library, he borrowed a book entitled Ola and the Story of Dinosaurs by Kirsten Bergh. The book was about a boy who threw rocks. The rock in the book was not just any rock, though, it was a trilobite, and it talked to Ola in the book: "Please don't throw me", begged the rock. "I'm a trilobite." Jørn was so inspired by the book that he ran out into the forest and found his first fossil. He still has it.

Ten years later, Jørn wanted to know more about the fossil he had found in the woods outside his childhood home in Mjøndalen. The future Honorary Nysgjerrigper then packed his backpack full of fossils and took the train all alone to Oslo and the Geological Museum at Tøyen. This marked the beginning of Jørn's career as a scientist.

A storytelling scientist

In addition to being a talented researcher, Jørn feels that all scientists ought to try to be even better at telling others about their work.

"We scientists often just communicate with each other through very specialised journals and in a language that no one else understands unless they work in exactly the same field. As a result, we have not managed to make people understand why research is so important. When I tell others about my research, I try to take a 'bird's eye view'", explains Jørn. This means that he uses more common words and explains things as simply as possible.

At the age of 16, Jørn visited the Geological museum at Tøyen in Oslo with his backpack filled with fossils. Today he's an associate professor at the museum.
Foto: Andreas B. Johansen/ Norges forskningsrådJørn is convinced that researchers don't know enough about their own discipline if they can't explain what they do to a six-year-old.

The future plans of an Honorary Nysgjerrigper

As a scientist, Jørn travels around the world and talks about dinosaurs and fossils. However, his favourite destination is Svalbard. He plans to use the attention generated by his new 'title' to raise more funding for the large-scale excavations he is making on Svalbard. You will be able to read about any exciting new discoveries he makes on nysgjerrigper.no or in Nysgjerrigper Magazine.

Published in 'Nysgjerrigper' no. 1/09

Translated by Linda Sivesind