JÓANNES RASMUSSEN (1912-1992) may be considered as the father of geological science in the Faroe Islands. He was the first Faroese person with a university degree in geology, and his merits as a geoscientist are numerous. Together with his former tutor from the university, Prof. Arne Noe-Nygaard, he carried out the detailed mapping of the onshore geology of the islands, at a time when no detailed mapping of plateau basaltic terrains was performed elsewhere.
The map and associated memoir were published in 1969. He was the driving force in the foundation of the Faroese Geological Department (1952) and the Museum of Natural History (1955), both of which he subsequently was directed for several decades, while he was simultaneously heading the Faroese Department of the Geological Survey of Denmark, DGU.
One fundamental principle of Jóannes was that knowledge on its own is worthless. It is only by using the knowledge actively and by sharing it with others that it becomes valuable. He was constantly busy with the distribution of his own knowledge and with making knowledge and skills accessible for others. Already during his student years in Copenhagen, he wrote a number of geological articles, and his overall portfolio of scientific literature is overwhelming. He chaired the Faroese Student Association in Copenhagen 1937-1944, was vice chairman of the Faroese association Føroyingafelag 1938-1941, and the first editor of Búgvin - a periodical for Faroese people in exile during the second world war.
After returning to the Faroe Islands in 1951 Jóannes was chaired the association Føroya Náttúra – Føroya Skúli (The Faroese Nature – The Faroese School) 1952 - 1978. In 1952 he co-founded the Scientific Society of the Faroe Islands, Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, which he directed and co-directed for 25 years, during which he also acted as editor of the Faroese scientific periodical, Fróðskaparrit (Annales Societatis Scientiarum Færoensis), and he was one of the driving forces in the establishment of the University of the Faroe Islands in 1965, where he taught geology and other natural sciences for many years while also teaching at several other institutions of education.
Jóannes Rasmussen was appointed Doctor of Honour at the University of Copenhagen in 1979. After his official retirement from his position at the Museum and at DGU in 1980 he continued writing and teaching and was actively involved in several scientific projects. In 1981 he was honoured with the M. A. Jacobsen literature award for his book Øldir og Upphav.
This First Jóannes Rasmussen Conference is intended to be a forum for the distribution, use and sharing of knowledge and skills between people interested in geosciences, especially volcanology or those interested in the Northeast Atlantic Region.
