Veikko Aleksanteri Heiskanen (V. A. Heiskanen; also spelledWeikko Aleksanteri (orW. A.)Heiskanen; 23 July 1895 – 23 October 1971) was a Finnishgeodesist andgeophysicist.[1][2] He was known for his refinement ofGeorge Biddell Airy andJohn Henry Pratt's theories ofisostasy into his own, the Heiskanen hypothesis.[3][4] WithFelix Andries Vening Meinesz, he wrote the textbookThe Earth and its Gravity Field (1958),[5][6] and in 1960 a paper by Heiskanen, "The latest achievements of physical geodesy" was discussed in the scientific literature.[7] WithHelmut Moritz, Heiskanen wrote the textbookPhysical Geodesy (1967), which became a standard text the field of geodesy and for the study of thegeoid.[8][9] Heiskanen's doctoral students includeIvan I. Mueller.
The Kaarina and Weikko A. Heiskanen Fund endows the Kaarina and Weikko A. Heiskanen Award,[13] which is awarded annually by theOhio State University.[14] The university hosted theWeikko A. Heiskanen Symposium in Geodesy in 2002 to celebrate that geodesy had been studied at Ohio State for 50 years.[15]
A book,Surveyor of the Globe, was written as a biography of Heiskanen byJuhani A. Kakkuri [fi] and published in 2008 and 2017.[16][17]
^Cook, A. H. (21 July 1956). "Prof. W. A. Heiskanen: Sixtieth Birthday Volume".Nature.178 (4525):111–112.doi:10.1038/178111a0.
^Holmes, Gillian S. (2014). "Isostasy". In Lerner, K. Lee; Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth (eds.).The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Vol. 4 (5th ed.).Gale. pp. 2436–2438.GaleCX3727801360.
