Karl Gustaf Lennander

1857-1908.

Physician, surgeon.

Karl Gustaf Lennander became a student in Uppsala in 1875 and later an associate professor and professor of surgery and obstetrics in 1891.

With him, modern abdominal surgery began in Sweden and in 1889 the first operation for peritonitis (inflammation of the peritoneum) originating from the appendix was performed. Lennander presented the results in 1902, when he also recommended early surgery for appendicitis (inflammation of the appendix). Lennander published several studies in surgery and gynecology.

Lennander became a member of the Society of Science in Uppsala in 1893, the Society of Science and Literature in Gothenburg in 1902 and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1905. Lennander's large fortune was bequeathed to a scholarship fund at Uppsala University and to the Swedish Medical Society.

Surgery course, fall semester 1890. Professor Karl Gustaf Lennander (sitting in a light-colored coat near the operating table) with students Lindblad, Segerstedt, Floderus, Strandman, Kaijser, Olsson, Wennerström, Didriksson, Bodinsson, Nilsson. Photo: UUB.

Doctors at Uppsala University Hospital in 1889. Around the portraits are photographs of Fyrisån, Uppsala University Hospital, the harbor with the Pump House and the Department of Anatomy, Uppsala University, the staircase in the university building, the Botanical Garden, view of Uppsala University Hospital and the castle and cathedral, Flustret. Photo: Heinrich Osti / UUB.

Burial site: 0134-2133

Image description: Karl Gustaf Lennander, Uppsala ca 1880-ca 1890. Photo: Heinrich Osti / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Mathilde Wigert

1873-1943.

Artist.

Mathilde Wigert studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts 1896-1902 and studied in Paris 1903-1904. During her studies she met her husband, the artist Johan Österlund, and the couple moved to Uppsala in 1908.

Wigert early paintings were characterized by national romantic moods and later became more expressive and emotional. One group of motifs that increasingly characterized her later art was the church interiors, which were characterized by emotional tension.

Wigert painted, among other things, a suite of tombstones in Uppsala Cathedral, interiors from Rasbo Church and church interiors from Bro on Gotland.

Over the years, Mathilde Wigert suffered from serious mental health problems and was periodically hospitalized at Ulleråker Hospital. She also published books and became involved in improving the conditions of the mentally ill.

Mathilde Wigert at the easel. John Österlund and Lilly Wigert at the parasol. The picture was taken around 1905, Vaxholm. Photo: Unknown photographer / UUB. Provenance: Christina Backman.

Female students at the Academy of Fine Arts 1897-1898. Mathilde is seen standing on her knees at the front. The others in the photograph are T. Wrede, S. Sonntag, Eva Befve, K. Hult, G. Palm, Kjellberg and L. Lindberg. In the background a male artist model. Photo: Unknown photographer / UUB. Provenance: Christina Backman.

 

Burial site: 0113-0742

Image description: Mathilde Wigert at her easel ca 1900. Photo: Unknown photographer / UUB. Provenance: Christina Backman. [The image is cropped]
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Anders Jonas Ångström

1814-1874.

Physicist.

Anders Jonas Ångström is best known as one of the founders of optical spectroscopy.

Ångström was the first to observe the spectrum of hydrogen, an observation that formed the basis of Balmer's formula and thus provided the experimental foundation for Bohr's atomic theory.

Ångström studied the solar spectrum in detail, in particular the Fraunhofer lines. His study Recherches sur le spectre solaire (1868) contained a precise determination of the wavelengths of the Fraunhofer lines. In addition, Ångström made regular observations at several locations in order to obtain a complete picture of magnetic conditions in Sweden.

Ångström was also the first to investigate the aurora borealis spectrometrically. The unit of light wavelength he introduced, corresponding to 0.1 nanometers, was adopted as the international unit and named ångström.

Anders Ångström was professor of physics from 1858 to 1874 and was elected to the Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1850.

In 1996, the Ångström Laboratory was inaugurated on Polacksbacken, where a number of scientific disciplines related to physics and chemistry have their research centers.

 

Burial site: 0113-0666

Image description: Professor A.J. Ångström, 1862 Photo: Mathias Hansen / UUB [The image is cropped]
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Helena Nyblom

1843-1926.

Author.

Helena Nyblom was one of the most prolific and popular fairy tale poets at the turn of the century.

She was born in Copenhagen in 1843, the daughter of Jørgen Roed and Emilia Amanda Kruse. Her father was a painter and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, and her mother had an interest in ancient art and literature. Helena Nyblom thus grew up in a home characterized by intellectuality and aesthetics.

She met her future husband in Rome and they moved to Uppsala, where their home soon became a gathering place for artistically minded people from all over the Nordic region.

Nyblom published a number of short stories and poetry collections, but her real literary breakthrough came in the late 1890s with her fairy tales.

Nyblom converted to Catholicism in 1895, which was both noticed and criticized in the media.

Helena Nyblom was an active debater in the women's movement and also a cultural writer for magazines such as Nordisk tidskrift, Ny svensk tidskrift, Ord och bild and Idun.

In 1922, the autobiographical work Mina levnadsminnen was published.

John Bauer's illustration from 1913, for Helena Nyblom's "The changelings" in "Among gnomes and trolls". Photo: Wikimedia commons.

Vershuset on Östra Ågatan 65 in Uppsala. The Nyblom family lived in the house from 1864 onwards. Photo: Arild Vågen / Wikimedia commons.

Burial site: 0112-0574

Image description: Helena Nyblom, Stockholm ca 1870- ca 1880. Waldemar Dahllöf / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Måns von Rosenstein

1755-1801.

Military, Rear Admiral.

Måns von Rosenstein, Carl's older brother, became a lieutenant in the army navy in 1774.

Between 1776-1778 he served in the British Navy, taking part in Sir Peter Parker's squadron in the West Indies and witnessing the Battle of Quessant against France. As a French naval officer, Rosenstein took part in the American War of Independence, was captured by his former commander Admiral Parker, and taken to England.

On his return to Sweden in 1783, he became a second major in the army's navy. Rosenstein particularly distinguished himself in the first battle of Svensksund on August 24, 1789. He and his ship Oden managed to hold off the Russian fleet, only to be forced to strike the flag after which he was captured.

At the end of the war in 1790, Rosenstein became a colonel in the army and seven years later a rear admiral.

 

Burial site: 0109-0462A

Image description: Måns von Rosenstein, painting by Per Krafft the Elder. Photo: Swedish Biographical Dictionary / National ArchivesThe image is cropped]
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Henri Osti

1826-1914.

Photographer.

Heinrich Osti, known as Henri, was born in Berlin, the son of a ribbon weaver from Italy.

Osti emigrated to Sweden at the age of 26 and in 1856 he began his photographic career in Stockholm. Three years later he opened a photo studio on Kungsgatan in Uppsala. The studio later moved to master shoemaker Sven Anders Hägg's farm between Östra Ågatan and Gräsgränd (the park on today's Bangårdsgatan) and eventually to Jervingska gården at Kungsgatan 55.

Heinrich Osti was the city's leading photographer for many years, winning several prizes for his photographs, and together with meteorologist Hugo Hildebrandsson he also photographed cloud formations for scientific purposes.

His collection of glass negatives with 16,000 images constitutes a broad documentation of the city's settlement and population at the time. The collection is a remarkable cultural and historical treasure preserved at Uppsala University Library.

 

Burial site: 0108-0450

Image description: Heinrich Osti, Uppsala 1860. Photo: Heinrich Osti / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Elias Fries

1794-1878.

Botanist, mycologist.

Elias Fries came from Femsjö in Småland and was the son of the minister Thore Fries and Sara Elisabeth Wernelin. He became one of the leading figures in mycology, producing writings that are still of scientific importance today.

Fries originally studied at Lund University and became an associate professor of botany at the age of 20.

He later moved to Uppsala University and in 1851 became Professor of Practical Economics and Botany. He was also prefect of the botanical garden and museum there.

Fries was particularly interested in the study of fungi, but his research touched on all areas of botany. His most influential work was Systema mycologicum, which was Fries' plant systematics work on fungi. Other mycological works were Elenchusfungorum and Hymenomycetes europaei.

Fries promoted the use of mushrooms as food, through the poster Sweden's edible and poisonous mushrooms. The interest in mycology was passed on to several of the children. For example, his son and daughter, Elias Petrus and Susanna (Sanna) Christina, drew several mushroom plates, several of which are preserved in Uppsala.

Fries also published the popular science essays Botaniska utflygter (1-3, 1843-1864).

In addition to being a university rector, Elias Fries was also a member of parliament and became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1847.

Title page from Elias Fries "Sveriges Ätliga och Giftiga Svampar", Norstedt & Söner, Stockholm, 1860. Photo: Bukowskis Auktioner AB.

Spread from Elias Fries "Sveriges Ätliga och Giftiga Svampar", Norstedt & Söner, Stockholm, 1860. Photo: Bukowskis Auktioner AB.

Burial site: 0103-0185

Image description: Elias Fries, Uppsala 1860s. Photo: UUBThe image is cropped]
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Hildur Ottelin

1866-1927.

Housing inspector, municipal politician, physical education teacher.

After graduating from the Gymnastics Institute in Stockholm in 1893, Hildur Ottelin moved to Skolgatan 10 in Uppsala and lived there for a time with her brother. For several years she worked as a physical education teacher and physiotherapist at Lindska skolan and Anna Wikström's trade school for blind women.

In 1903, Ottelin invested in two farms at Stamgatan (today's Geijersgatan) 7 and 10 with the intention of renting out housing and settled herself in number 10. A year later, she bought land from vicar Otto Myrberg in Rickomberga, which was later sold cheaply to working-class families, and together they formed a housing association, Rickomberga Egna Hem, of which she was managing director from 1904 to 1923.

Later, Ottelin became a housing inspector under the Board of Health and in 1912 she became the first woman to become a member of the City Council when she was elected for the Social Democrats. Similarly, Ottelin also became the first woman in the county council chamber.

As a politician, she became known for her many controversial proposals and her involvement in housing and elderly issues. Hildur Ottelin continued to be involved in municipal affairs until her death.

Since 1950, a street in Uppsala, in the Rickomberga area, bears her name.

 

Burial site: 0148-1933

Image description: Hildur Ottelin, ca 1916- ca 1927 Photo: Klara Hacksell / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Anita Nathorst

1894-1941.

Theologian, author.

Anita Nathorst was active in the Christian student and high school movement and a friend of Karin Boye, who called her her 'spiritual mother'. Boye had a love for her, but it was an unrequited love.

Nathorst studied in Uppsala and became the first female theol.lic. in church history. Her collection of poems was published in 1926.

Nathorst was diagnosed with breast cancer at an early age and was treated by the doctor Iwan Bratt in Alingsås. They began a love affair in the mid-1930s. However, the love affair ended and Nathorst bought an apartment in Skåne. Until it was vacant, it was a difficult time for her in Bratt's home and Karin Boye acted as a support for her.

Anita Nathorst died in Malmö nursing home in the summer of 1941, just a few months after Karin Boye.

The following poem, written by Karin Boye, is called "Hur kan jag säga..." (How can I say...) and is included in the posthumously published collection De sju dödssynderna och andra efterlämnade dikter. The collection was published in 1941 and the poem is addressed to Anita.

How can I tell if your voice is beautiful.
I just know, that it penetrates me
and will make me tremble like a leaf
and tear me apart and blow me up.
What do I know about your skin and your limbs.
It just shakes me that they are yours,
so that for me there is no sleep and rest,
until they are mine.


Burial site: 0101-0051

Image description: Anita Nathorst, year unknown. Photo: Unknown photographer / From private collection [The image is cropped]
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Elsa Eschelsson

1861-1911.

Lawyer, Sweden's first female doctor of law.

Elsa Eschelsson was born in a wealthy home in Norrköping in 1861. After the death of her mother, five-year-old Elsa moved with her father to Stockholm.

Eschelsson was taught at home and learned Latin, among other things, entirely on her own. In 1882 she took her matriculation exam with high marks.

She continued her studies in Uppsala and later became the first female doctor and associate professor of law. However, she had to fight hard to obtain positions, not least as acting professor, as that position could not yet be granted to a woman.

She was involved in the establishment of the Association of Educated Women (1904), which campaigned for women's right to hold senior government posts.

The academic struggles took a toll on her strength and after a supposed overdose of sleeping pills, Elsa Eschelsson died on March 10, 1911.

The funeral in Uppsala Cathedral was officiated by Professor Einar Billing who spoke about "the injustice of this world".

 

Burial site: 0137-1550

Image description: Elsa Eschelsson, 1883. Photo: Heinrich Osti / UUBThe image is cropped]
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