Bengt Strömgren: Growing up with astronomy, 1908-1932

The Danish astronomer and astrophysicist Bengt Strömgren (1908-87) has been singlede out as one of the last Danish international researchers to have made a difference not only to his disciplinary field but to society as a whole, and the temptation to investigate this alleged last-of-a-kind-astronomer character is compelling. His citation index comprises 63 selected astrophysics papers from 1931 to 1987, which have been cited 1,884 times in astrophysics papers by other authors. Here we shall examine his early career down to 1932, the year of his first landmark article on astrophysics, in which, continuing the numerical tradition at the Copenhagen Observatory, Strömgrne applied the still novel quantum mechanics with great faith in its validity. In addition, we investigate the inspiration he drew from the stimulating teachers and the environment at the Niels Bohr Institute.