Dr. Hinrich Johannes Rink (first name sometimes as Henrik) (26 August 1819 – 15 December 1893) was a Danish geologist,[1] one of the pioneers of glaciology,[2] and the first accurate describer of the inland ice of Greenland.

[5] Rink carried out and printed in four volumes[6] the first systematic collection of Greenlandic oral tradition stories.

He was intent on going to Calcutta, but he ended up at the Nicobar Islands, colonized by Denmark at the time, to investigate them geographically.

After five months he fell ill with Nicobar Fever, weakening him the rest of his life, and forcing his return to Denmark.

On the return trip, he stopped in Cairo and Malta, where, in October 1846, he collected geological materials.

From 1848 until 1851, with public support, he went to Western Greenland for geological and glaciological studies[2] at Upernavik and Umanak.

In the last year, he spent some time in Ilulissat and sailed to Paakitsoq, a bay in Western Greenland.

[2] Rink returned to Copenhagen in 1851 where he took a seat in a Commission that dealt with the trade monopoly in Greenland.

It was his idea and under his guidance, that the Commission's board members were introduced, which ensured Greenlanders' influence on their own affairs.

Rink studied the Greenlandic language and folklore; Eskimo tales and legends was published in 1866.

In Copenhagen, he founded the Grønlænderhjem for young Inuit to learn a craft so they could more easily obtain employment.

[3] In 1853, he married Sophia Nathalie Nielsine Caroline Møller (born 1836, Godthaab), nicknamed Signe.

She was the daughter of Paamiut colonial administrators Jørgen Nielsen Møller and Antonette Ernestine Constance Tommerup.

A memorial built of stone in Godthaab contains a plaque with the inscription kalatdlit asavai ilisimavai (translation: "He loved and knew Kalaallit Inuit (Greenlanders)").