science

Jan-Gunnar Winther

Jan-Gunnar Winther is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jan-Gunnar Winther rather than just read about it. In short: Jan-Gunnar Winther (born 21 June 1962) is director for the Centre for the Ocean and the Arctic at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and Specialist Director at the Norwegian Polar Institute located in Tromsø. He served as Director of the Norwegian Polar Institute (2005-2017) and as pro-rector for research and development at UiT (2023-2025).

Key takeaways

Jan-Gunnar Winther belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jan-Gunnar Winther to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jan-Gunnar Winther from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jan-Gunnar Winther (born 21 June 1962) is director for the Centre for the Ocean and the Arctic at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and Specialist Director at the Norwegian Polar Institute located in Tromsø. He served as Director of the Norwegian Polar Institute (2005-2017) and as pro-rector for research and development at UiT (2023-2025).

Education After obtaining a construction engineering degree in 1987 at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, Jan-Gunnar Winther gained a PhD in polar hydrology at the same institution in 1993 following a period of study at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Career Winther began working at the Norwegian Polar Institute in 1994, and was its director from 2005 to 2017. From 2018, Winther was the director of the Centre for the Ocean and the Arctic under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. He was a researcher at SINTEF (Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research) for six years, held a chair at the University Centre in Svalbard, and enrolled at the Norwegian Defence University College in 2003 and 2013. He was deputy head of the government-appointed “group of experts for the northern regions” under the second government of prime minister Jens Stoltenberg. He was the chair of the Board at Grid Arendal 2017-2023, is deputy chair of the Board of SALT, and Board member at Tromsø Research Foundation (2023-2025). Winther led the first half of the Norwegian-American South Pole Expedition in the 2007–08 International Polar Year.

Celebrations Winther took the initiative leading to the Nansen-Amundsen Year in 2011, an official celebration with around 400 events nationally and internationally, acknowledging 150 years after Fridtjof Nansen was born and 100 years after Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Winther participated in the anniversary expedition to the South Pole in 2011 along with Stein P. Aasheim, Harald Dag Jølle and Vegard Ulvang. The expedition followed the same route as Roald Amundsen’s expedition in 1911–12 and reached the Pole precisely 100 years after Amundsen as part of the celebration of the Nansen-Amundsen Year in 2011. In 2013, he led the International Nansen Memorial Expedition from Archangel to the Yenisei River aboard the former Russian research vessel Professor Molchanov. Winther took part on behalf of Norway in the Olympic Torch Relay prior to the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 when it visited the North Pole in October 2013. Jan-Gunnar Winther proposed the Constitution Voyage in 2014 when the schooner, Anna Rogde, sailed from Hammerfest to Oslo as part of the celebrations of the bicentenary of the drawing up of the Norwegian Constitution in 1814, to underline its significance and the opportunities it opened up for the Norwegian coast, viewed from a historic aspect and in the perspective of what the future holds.

Publications Winther has published about 70 scientific articles, 200+ chronicles and three books, Klimagåten Antarktis (Antarctica, a climatic mystery), Norge i Antarktis (Norway in the Antarctic) and a children's book, Snø, is og klima (Snow, ice and climate), all three in 2008.

Appointments one of the lead authors on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report ("Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis") member of United Nations Global Compact Action Platform for Sustainable Ocean Business member of the World Economic Forum Friends of Ocean Action member of the China Council for Cooperation on Environment and Development (International Institute for Sustainable Development) member of the expert group of the High-level panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy member of the Horizon Europe Mission Board Restore our Ocean and Waters a Norwegian expert on the Arctic Council and the Antarctic Treaty. member The United Arab Emirates Polar Program Board. He is also a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences and the Explorers Club.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jan-Gunnar Winther

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jan-Gunnar Winther claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jan-Gunnar Winther before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jan-Gunnar Winther ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jan-Gunnar Winther

In research: Jan-Gunnar Winther appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jan-Gunnar Winther in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jan-Gunnar Winther is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1962 births, Antarctic scientists, Living people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jan-Gunnar Winther outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jan-Gunnar Winther in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jan-Gunnar Winther means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jan-Gunnar Winther out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jan-Gunnar Winther in simple terms?

Why does Jan-Gunnar Winther matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jan-Gunnar Winther?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jan-Gunnar Winther.