Steenstrup was born at Høstemark Mill in Mou Sogn,
Jutland, Denmark. He was the son of Johan Peter Steenstrup (1814–49) and Sinned Claudine Lund (1803–63), He was a nephew of
zoologist Japetus Steenstrup (1813-1897). Steenstrup took a degree in
pharmacy in 1863 and worked as assistant at the
University of Copenhagen Geological Museum from 1866 to 1889. He made in total nine journeys to
Greenland, one of which lasted 2.5 years. He made remarkable collections of Cretaceous and Paleogene plant fossils in central West Greenland, which were later treated by
swiss botanist Oswald Heer (1809–1883). Heer initially considered the fossils to be
Miocene in age. Steenstrup proved that the large
iron-rich blocks found by
A.E. Nordenskiöld on
Disko, and claimed by him to be
meteorites, were in fact
native iron extrusions in
basalt. This finding made his name well known and he was subsequently made honorary member of the
Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Steenstrup was the first chairman of the Danish Geological Society from 1893 to 1898. In 1895, he was made an honorary corresponding member of the
Royal Geographical Society in London, He was appointed
Honorary Doctor at the
University of Copenhagen in 1906. From 1896 he was a member of the
Commission for Scientific Investigations in Greenland and from 1902 fellow of the
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. The minerals steenstrupine-(Ce) and thorosteenstrupine were named after him. The twin
K.J.V. Steenstrup Glaciers (
K.I.V. Steenstrups Nordre Bræ & K.I.V. Steenstrups Søndre Bræ) in
King Christian IX Land, eastern Greenland, are named after him. == References ==