[1] His doctoral thesis was On Some Non-linear Effects in Sound Fields, with Special Emphasis on the Generation of Vorticity and the Formation of Streaming Patterns.

[3] He was also the dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences from 1975 to 1977,[4] and has held positions in NAVF, NTVF, and in the national committee of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.

[1] Tjøtta married Jacqueline Naze, a colleague, in 1964—they barely survived a car crash sustained on their honeymoon.

[8] Together with his wife, Tjøtta won a prize in underwater acoustics from the French Academy of Sciences.

He is a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America,[3] and a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.