Torben Monberg, (1929-2007), was professor of Cultural Sociology at the University of Copenhagen until 1975 and then became Chief Curator of the Department of Ethnography at the National Museum of Denmark. In 1961 he received a one year professorship (Fulbright) at the University of Hawaii and in 1966-1967 as visiting professor. In those years Monberg worked together with Samuel H. Elbert; their collaboration was most productive and Monberg returned to the University several times as a guest professor. From 1958-1998 Monberg conducted field work on Rennell and Bellona Islands in the Solomon Islands, and in 1966 he went with Sir Raymond Firth to Tikopia. Monberg’s main interest was the study of the Bellonese traditional religion, which in 1991 resulted in the highly praised work The Religion of Bellona Island. In the following years many books and scientific articles were published on different aspects of the traditional culture of the two Polynesian Outliers. Monberg’s eloquence in the Bellonese/Rennellese language was highly admired by the local people and manifests itself in his translation of their ancient ritual language and the deciphering of Poetry as coded messages. In appreciation of Monberg’s great concern about the welfare of the islanders, in 1979 he received the honorific name Haangaihenua, “Land-feeder”. In 1984 the NUKU-AVAIKI Cultural Association conferred the title of Honorary Chief on him – a title no one else has received.