The cradle of Scandinavian exercise physiology was in Copenhagen. Peter Ludwig Panum (1820‐1885) was head of a new physiological laboratory and his research included respiration, digestion and metabolism. Christian Bohr (1855‐1911) was his most prominent co‐worker and became his successor in 1885. Part of Bohr's training was in Leipzig, Germany, with Carl Ludwig, which led to his lifelong interest in problems of pulmonary exchange and blood transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide. He discovered the effect of carbon dioxide on the dissociation curve of hemoglobin (the Bohr effect). He attracted eminent young co‐workers, among them A. Krogh, V. Henriques and K. A. Hasselbalch (known for the Henderson‐Hasselbalch formula). One of his children, Niels Bohr, became one of the greatest modem nuclear physicists. We could name August Krogh as the father of exercise physiology in Scandinavia. This review will concentrate on some of his and his co‐workers' and students' scientific achievements up t