Professor Emeritus Asgeir Brekke awarded with the Japanese order: The Order of the Rising Sun

The National Institute of Polar Research(NIPR) nominated Professor Emeritus Asgeir Brekke for having contributed for a number of years to academic exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and Norway.

“Since 1975, Asgeir Brekke has made outstanding academic contributions to the development of research into the upper atmosphere in the polar regions, where the inflow of electromagnetic energy from the sun is at its maximum and has long-term effects on the global environment, in collaboration with Japanese researchers.”

Prof. em. Brekke has been an international driving force in Northern Lights research and research on the upper atmosphere. When Japan became a member of the EISCAT Scientific Association, in 1996, Prof. em. Brekke participated in negotiations as EISCAT Council Leader and led discussions in Council to establish an agreement for Japan to join.

The Order of the Rising Sun (Japanese: ?? ?, kyokujitsu sh?) is a Japanese order founded in 1875 by Mutsuhito, then Emperor of Japan. The order is awarded to Japanese and foreigners for both civilian and military services.

Read the UiT article in Norwegian here: https://uit.no/nyheter/artikkel?p_document_id=771998