BIOGRAPHY

Bjørn L. Basberg is Professor in Economic History. His main research interests are within the history of technology (patents) and economic history relating 20th century maritime industries (whaling and shipping).

His doctoral thesis (1984) from NHH was about patents and technological development in Norway, 1840-1980.  He has been a visiting scholar at M.I.T., the National Bureau of Economic Research, Brown University and University of Cambridge (Scott Polar Research Institute). He is an advisory curator at the Kendall Institute, New Bedford Whaling Museum and a trustee of the South Georgia Heritage Trust.

Basberg has written and edited several books among others on the Norwegian merchant shipping during World War II, and The Shore Whaling Stations at South Georgia. A Study in Antarctic Industrial Archaeology.
He has published papers internationally on the history of patents, whaling history, maritime history and industrial history. The papers have been published in the journals like Scandinavian Economic History Review, Research Policy, International Journal of Maritime History and Polar Record.

Basberg has received the L. Byrne Waterman Award and the Peter Neaverson Award for his research on industrial archaeology at South Georgia.

TEACHING AREAS

Economic and Political History, International Economic History