science

Thorkil Kristensen

Thorkil Kristensen 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 Thorkil Kristensen rather than just read about it. In short: Thorkil Kristensen (9 October 1899 – 26 June 1989) was a Danish politician, finance minister, professor in national economy, and futurist. Early years Kristensen was born a son of a farmer in Fløjstrup close to Vejle, Denmark.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Thorkil Kristensen (9 October 1899 – 26 June 1989) was a Danish politician, finance minister, professor in national economy, and futurist.

Early years Kristensen was born a son of a farmer in Fløjstrup close to Vejle, Denmark. Between 1938–1945 he was professor at the University of Aarhus and between 1947–1960 at the Copenhagen Business School.

Career Thorkil Kristensen was elected to the Danish Parliament 1945 and became finance minister under Knud Kristiansen (1945–1947) and Erik Eriksen (1950–1953). Throughout his life he worked with difficult economic problems. Among people of his own party and opposing parties, he enjoyed great respect because of his broad knowledge of economics. He came to disagree on economic policy with his party, Venstre, and left the party in 1960. After his exit from politics, he was secretary general of the OECD from 1960-1969. He was the founder of the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS), making it one of the first futures research institutes on the European continent. He was managing director at CIFS from 1970–1988. He participated in the Club of Rome which attracted considerable public attention with its report, Limits to Growth, which has sold 30 million copies in more than 30 translations, making it the best selling environmental book in world history.

Selected publications Kristensen, Thorkil. The economic world balance. The economic world balance. (1960). Kristensen, Thorkil. The brain drain and development planning. No. 29. International Institute for Educational Planning, 1968. Kristensen, Thorkil. The food problem of developing countries. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 1968. Kristensen, Thorkil. Development in rich and poor countries: a general theory with statistical analyses. Praeger, 1974.' Articles, a selection

Kristensen, Thorkil. "Five Years of OECD." European Yearbook 13 (1967): 1000-113.

References

External links Truman Library - Thorkil Kristensen Oral History Interview

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thorkil Kristensen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thorkil Kristensen 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 Thorkil Kristensen 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 Thorkil Kristensen 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 Thorkil Kristensen

In research: Thorkil Kristensen 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 Thorkil Kristensen 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: Thorkil Kristensen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1899 births, 1989 deaths, 20th-century Danish economists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thorkil Kristensen 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 Thorkil Kristensen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thorkil Kristensen 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 Thorkil Kristensen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thorkil Kristensen in simple terms?

Thorkil Kristensen (9 October 1899 – 26 June 1989) was a Danish politician, finance minister, professor in national economy, and futurist. Early years Kristensen was born a son of a farmer in Fløjstrup close to Vejle, Denmark.

Why does Thorkil Kristensen 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 Thorkil Kristensen?

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 Thorkil Kristensen.