I am a professor emeritus at the University of Stavanger with interest in reaction kinetics of chemical and biological systems.
The city of Stavanger (ca. 150 000 inhabitants) lies in the south-western part of Norway. The University of Stavanger has about 13000 students and its campus is located near Hafrsfjord.
After an eduction at the Chemical Institute Dr. Flad in Stuttgart, Germany, and studies at the University of Oslo, I have since 1984 been in Stavanger and have worked on chemical and biological oscillators; especially with the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction and circadian rhythms. The BZ reaction is a chemical oscillator that can show concentration oscillations, sometimes for hours, even in a simple beaker. Apart from oscillatory behavior, chemical oscillators show a variety of surprising (and quite fascinating!) phenomena that normally are associated with biological systems; for example excitability, bistability, chemical pulse propagation and spontaneous structure or pattern formation. Even chaos can be observed. In my circadian rhythm studies I focussed on adaptation behaviors including temperature compensation and other homeostatic properties. In these studies the fungus Neurospora crassa was used as a model organism.
Presently I work on homeostatic aspects in oscillatory and nonoscillatory biochemical systems.
I am a professor emeritus at the University of Stavanger with interest in reaction kinetics of chemical and biological systems.
The city of Stavanger (ca. 150 000 inhabitants) lies in the south-western part of Norway. The University of Stavanger has about 13000 students and its campus is located near Hafrsfjord.
After an eduction at the Chemical Institute Dr. Flad in Stuttgart, Germany, and studies at the University of Oslo, I have since 1984 been in Stavanger and have worked on chemical and biological oscillators; especially with the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction and circadian rhythms. The BZ reaction is a chemical oscillator that can show concentration oscillations, sometimes for hours, even in a simple beaker. Apart from oscillatory behavior, chemical oscillators show a variety of surprising (and quite fascinating!) phenomena that normally are associated with biological systems; for example excitability, bistability, chemical pulse propagation and spontaneous structure or pattern formation. Even chaos can be observed. In my circadian rhythm studies I focussed on adaptation behaviors including temperature compensation and other homeostatic properties. In these studies the fungus Neurospora crassa was used as a model organism.
Presently I work on homeostatic aspects in oscillatory and nonoscillatory biochemical systems.