Hans Strøm

In this work he describes how the wave formation and lines of Sunnmøre's mountains were explained by the locals as a result of the Syndfloden's water masses.

He himself considers it more probable that they are due to rain, but states that the farmers are absolutely right that the ridges are consistently parallel from northeast to southwest, and thus resemble the waves that the northwest wind creates at sea.

In Strøm's time, there were still about a hundred stave churches in Norway, but many had disappeared before the mapping and conservation work began in the 19th century.

The results of his research was published as Physisk og Oeconomisk Beskrivelse over Fogderiet Søndmør I–II (Copenhagen, 1762–1766), a work that established his reputation as a scientific authority.

He co-founded the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters in 1760, with Gerhard Schoning, the historian, and Johan Ernst Gunnerus, bishop of Trondheim.