Adolf Hoel

Adolf Hoel (May 15, 1879 – 1964 in Oslo) was a Norwegian geologist and polar researcher. He was the leading Norwegian researcher at Svalbard in the early 20th century, and in 1928 founded "Norges Svalbard- og Ishavsundersøkelser", which became the Norwegian Polar Institute in 1948. The mineral hoelite is named in his honour. His focus on and research of the polar areas is largely credited as the reason Norway has the sovereignty over Svalbard and Queen Maud Land. He led several scientific expeditions to Svalbard and Greenland.

In 1933, he became a member of the National Unity party of the former minister of defense, Vidkun Quisling, largely due to his Norwegian nationalist approach to the Norwegian occupation of a part of Greenland in the early 1930s.

Hoel became a fellow of the University of Oslo in 1911 and a docent in 1919. He was appointed a full professor in 1940. Hoel was rector of the University of Oslo from 1941 to 1945.

After the war he finished his work on the history of Svalbard in three volumes.

He married Lisbet Birgitte Fredrikke Thomsen in 1916 and had issue.