Birkeland's scientific career might have turned out differently had he not grown up in a country of mighty rivers. Electricity produced from Norway's hydropower plants was very cheap, and the process that Birkeland invented for synthesizing ammonia depended on low-cost power. Unfortunately, similar conditions did not apply throughout the rest of the world, and other processes soon eclipsed Birkeland's local success.

As a student, Birkeland concentrated on mathematical physics, studying primarily in Paris and Geneva. For a short time, he studied under Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894) in Bonn, Germany.

During the 1890s, Birkeland presented solutions to Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell's (1831-1879) equations describing magnetic and electrical forces and fields. He also led three research expeditions that studied the northern lights (aurora borealis), and he founded an observatory for geophysical studies at an extreme northern latitude (70°N).

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, scientists became interested in...