Gustaf Svanberg was born in Uppsala in 1819, the son of Gustaf (an astronomer) and Fredrika Svanberg. Later in life he became mayor and active in municipal politics in Gothenburg. Svanberg was also elected as a member of the second chamber of the Swedish Parliament.
The tomb that adorns Svanberg's Burial site is one of the most striking in the Old Cemetery. The allegorical female figure in bronze is called "Sorgen" and was made by the sculptress Sigrid Blomberg. A similar sculpture adorns the family grave of Carl Wijk in the Östra cemetery in Gothenburg.
Burial site: 0109-0461B
Image description: Portrait of Gustaf Svanberg, 1910. Photo: Unknown photographer / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
Egmont Tornberg was born in 1891 in Rytterne and later became a lieutenant in the Navy in 1914, lieutenant in 1917 and began flying in 1918.
He transferred to the air force when it was formed in 1926 and in the same year, as a captain, he set an altitude record for seaplanes. The altitude record was set at 5731 meters in a Heinkel with a 500 kg load (equivalent to a combat load). The record was duly approved by the International Federation and exceeded the previous record by 700 meters.
In 1928 Egmont headed the Swedish rescue expedition of survivors from the Italian airship Italia north of Spitsbergen. He showed an impressive leadership during two months of hard material and personal strain under very difficult and rapidly changing weather conditions with risky flight over the Arctic Ocean, ice drift and dense fog.
Part of the rescue team with Tornberg in the middle.
Photo: from private collection.
From the Italia action of 1928.
Photo: from private collection.
Later in life, Tornberg was head of F 1, Jämtland Air Force F 4 and Norrbotten Air Base Corps F 21.
In 1940, Tornberg became colonel and eleven years later he died at the age of 59, being the last of the marine pilots to start his flying career in 1917.
Burial site: 0115-0811B
Image description: Portrait photograph by Egmont Tornberg, Head of the Western Air Base Area 1943-1946. Signed, framed photo. Photo: Unknown Photographer / Air Force Museum. [The image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
Anders Strandberg came to Uppsala at the age of 13 and started working as a store clerk.
In 1885 Strandberg started a manufakturaffär at Stora Torget. The store was later housed in the corner house (built in 1905) at Drottninggatan in the so-called Strandberg ska huset. The house was the first in the city with elevator, central heating and electricity. In the same year Strandberg, as a social and technical interest, developed an electricity plant for the city.
Stora torget (Main Square) in Uppsala 1901-1902, view towards Kungsängsgatan. At the time of the photography, Anders Strandberg's sewing shop was housed in the building. The corner plot was owned and built by Olof Rudbeck the Elder. The houses were demolished in 1934. Photo: Alfred Dahlgren / UUB.
The main square with the Strandberg house (built in 1905) on the right, 29 April 1911. At the time, Svenska veckan was celebrated as a manifestation to benefit Swedish industry. Photo: Unknown Photographer/UUB.
Strandberg was a member of the City Council from 1899 to 1930, executive member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1916 to 1928, and also a county councillor and member of the Hospital Board at Akademiska sjukhuset. He was also a member of the Elders of the Burghers.
Asta Ödman was born in Gothenburg and was a sculptor and artist.
Ödman studied for Sten Teodorsson and during her studies she became friends with Inger Manne, with whom she painted with for many years.
In the early 1960s, Ödman studied for Fritz Gahn and she was a member of a group of artists who sculpted and painted.
Ödman had a number of own exhibitions. She was also posthumously represented with several works in the Norrköping art museum's compilation exhibition "Female Artists" from 2013.
In Norrköping there are also public works created by Asta Ödman, for example in the town hall and the concert hall De Geerhallen.
Image description: Asta Ödman with sculptures. Photo: Mikael Strand. The photo was first published in Norrköpings Tidningar. [The image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
Adolf Noreen was born in Östra Ämtervik in Värmland and wrote a thesis on the Frykdal dialect. The thesis deals with the dialect of his home town and was the first dialect description based on scientific principles.
Noreen published language history manuals, for example about Fornisländska in Altisländische Grammar (1884) and about Ancient Swedish in Altschwedische Grammar (1904).
In his great work Vårt språk (Our language)(1903–1924) he presents his ethos of language and presents a basic plan for grammar. Noreen was also an advocate for the spelling reform in 1906.
Between 1887 and 1919, Adolf Noreen was professor of Nordic languages, was elected a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities in 1902, as a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1917 and became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1919.
Together with Johan August Lundell he founded the school Upsala Enskilda Läroverk (now Lundellska) in 1892.
Victor Clifton Martyn, known as Topper Martyn, was born in England and was a juggler and illusionist. In the 1960s, Martyn settled in Uppsala with his wife.
Topper Martyn made his stage debut in 1938 as a juggler and had a mixed program with elements of juggling, comedy and magic. Martyn received several awards for his artistry. In 1970 he became the world champion of comical magic in Amsterdam.
In 1996, Martyn was honored with the English Carlton Comedy Prize. He has received the French award Mandrake d'or and a gold medal by Asahi Television (Japan).
In addition to performing in 30 different countries, he played the wizard's role in the children's musical Alfons and the Wizard, based on Gunilla Bergström's book Hokus Pokus Alfons Åberg. Topper Martyn also appeared in TV productions, such as SVT's Christmas calendar from 1984 – Julstrul with Staffan & Bengt.
Burial site: 0406-0001 (Memorial grove, The Old cemetery)
Image description: Topper Martyn, unknown year. Photo: Swedish Magic-Archive. [The image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
August Haglund became established in 1862 and opened his own trade shop in the Lodénian house at the Main square.
When Uplandsbanken (the Upland bank) was founded, he became its first bookkeeper and was then a bank treasurer until his retirement. Haglund wrote poems for family celebrations and was a musician in the Orchestra of the Sharpshooter Corps.
He is best known for his donation in 1901 of 50,000 SEK to a new bridge across Fyrisån (the Fyris creek) at Skolgatan. The bridge is also today called "Haglund's bridge" and in 1889 it replaced the former bridge built on the site.
The former bridge was moved north (to Odensgatan) and was named "Eddaspången" after the block Edda. The rafting on last 30th of April usually starts just north of Haglund's bridge.
Lars Erstrand was one of the big names in Swedish jazz during the 20th century. He became "Mister Swing" with the jazz audience and was a heavy name in both Swedish and international jazz.
He started playing the piano but switched to vibraphone after being influenced by vibrafonist Lionel Hampton's play in Benny Goodman's orchestra.
From the 1960s and many years to come, Erstrand collaborated with clarinetist Ove Lind.
The international breakthrough came in the 1970s when he played with Benny Goodman and later with clarinetists Bob Wilber and "Peanuts" Hucko.
Lars Erstrand also performed with Sven Asmussen and Alice Babs and played from the 1990s together with Arne Domnerus and in the quartet Swedish Swing Society.
Åke Holm was born in Norrtälje and later became Sweden's foremost arachnolog (spider scientist) and he is seen as the creator of modern spider embryology.
He published significant work in embryology and taxonomy and led research trips to Abisko and the Torneträsk area, East Africa, Spitmountains, Greenland and Malaysia. Holm's spider research focused in particular on the Swedish mountain fauna and on the fauna of the Arctic and East Africa. One of the results was that new species were discovered.
Åke Holm together with participants on one of the research trips to East Africa. Photo: Museum of Evolution in Uppsala.
Olle Hedberg who participated on one of the research trips to East Africa. Photo: Museum of Evolution in Uppsala.
Åke Holm was museum curator at the Department of Zoology from 1947 to 1975 and he was as curator at the Zoological Museum in charge of the collections ranging from the time of Linnaeus and Thunberg.
Louise Stiernstedt was born in Uppsala and was a drawer and graphic artist.
After studying at the Technical School from 1895 to 1896 and at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm from 1897 to 1893, Stiernstedt continued her training at various schools in Italy and Munich.
Stiernstedt was a skilled wood and linoleum cuter and her art consists of portraits, landscape motifs and still lifes. She's represented at the National Museum.
Image description: Louise Stiernstedt, Landskapsskolan vid Konstakademin, Stockholm, 1898. Back row: Helene Herslow, Astrid Kjellberg, Esther Salmson, Louise Stiernstedt, Mathilde Wigert, John Österlund, Manne Hallengren, Seth Nilsson. Front row: Herman Österlund, Professor Per Daniel Holm, Hildur Hult.Photo: Unknown photographer / UUB. [The image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
