Christopher Hansteen (26 September 1784 – 11 April 1873) was a Norwegian geophysicist, astronomer and physicist,[1] best known for his mapping of Earth's magnetic field.

He was hired as the tutor of a young noble, Niels Rosenkrantz von Holstein, who lived at Sorø.

[4] His first scientific publication was printed in Journal de Physique, following a contest on magnetic axes created in 1811 by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

In 1813 he was given a research scholarship by the recently established (in 1811) Royal Frederick University in Christiania, with a promise of a future academic position.

[2] In the course of his research he travelled over Finland and the greater part of his own country; and from 1828 to 1830 he undertook, in company with Georg Adolf Erman and with the co-operation of Russia, a government-funded mission to Western Siberia.

A narrative of the expedition soon appeared (Reise-Erinnerungen aus Siberien, 1854; Souvenirs d’un voyage en Sibérie, 1857); but the chief work was not issued until 1863 (Resultate magnetischer Beobachtungen).

Shortly after the return of the mission, in 1833 Hansteen moved with his family into the observatory, which was created from drawings by the architect Christian Heinrich Grosch.

After Holmboe wrote a review of the first textbook for the newspaper Morgenbladet, in which he advised schools not to use it, a public debate followed, with contributions from other mathematicians.

[5] In 1842 Hansteen wrote his Disquisitiones de mutationibus, quas patitur momentum acus magneticae.

In 1861 he retired from active work, but still pursued his studies,[2] his Observations de l'inclination magnetique and Sur les variations séculaires du magnetisme appearing in 1865.

[2] Hansteen was appointed a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1847, and received the Grand Cross in 1855.