The 18th-century bishop who looked beyond Earth to explain the northern lights

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Johan Ernst Gunnerus was a Norwegian bishop and theologian, but his true passion lay in the natural world. From naming the basking shark to pioneering early theories on planetary auroras, he bridged the gap between religious life and the rigorous scientific inquiry that defined the Enlightenment era in Northern Europe.

Born in Christiania in 1718, Johan Ernst Gunnerus followed a path that led him from the University of Copenhagen to academic posts in Germany. By 1745, he held a Magister degree, and by 1753, he was a member of the Faculty of Philosophy. His early intellectual output was prolific, including an eight-volume work on natural and international law. However, his career took a definitive turn in 1758 when he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Nidaros in Trondheim, a role he held until his death in 1773.

Despite his ecclesiastical duties, Gunnerus remained a dedicated naturalist. In 1760, he co-founded the Trondheim Society, which later gained royal recognition as the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters. Through this institution, he fostered a culture of scientific documentation, publishing his own observations in the society's journal. His contributions were significant and varied; he authored the comprehensive Flora Norvegica and provided critical ornithological notes for Knud Leem’s 1767 study on the Laplanders of Finmark. It was in this context that he became the first to assign a scientific name to the Greenshank.

Gunnerus was also a bold theorist. He maintained a correspondence with the renowned Carl von Linné, exchanging findings that pushed the boundaries of contemporary knowledge. Perhaps most strikingly, he hypothesized that if the Sun caused the northern lights on Earth, similar auroral phenomena must necessarily exist around the Moon, Venus, and Mercury. This leap of logic showcased a mind that refused to be confined by the limitations of his time. Today, his legacy persists through the plant genus Gunnera, the Gunnerus Library, and a modern research vessel that bears his name, ensuring his place in the history of science.

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