In 1956, Sonja Lyttkens became the second woman in Sweden to receive a doctorate in mathematics for a thesis on harmonic analysis.
In 1963, she became the country's first university lecturer in mathematics, a position she held until 1984. Lyttkens was also committed to improving the conditions for women in academia.
In addition to her work, Lyttkens devoted herself to watercolor painting and had already had several exhibitions before her retirement. Her watercolors are represented at the National Arts Council.
As late as 1986, Lyttkens published a work: General Tauberian Theorems Connected with a Theorem of Korenblum. After retirement, Lyttkens devoted himself entirely to his watercolor painting.
Axel W. Persson was born in Kvidinge and was interested in archaeology from an early age.
Persson's studies and interest in the Greek language led him to become an associate professor of Greek language and literature in 1915, and of classics and ancient history in 1921. In Uppsala, Persson became professor of classics and ancient history in 1924.
Persson was the leader of successful excavations in Greece (Asine 1922-1930, Dendra and Midea 1926-1927, 1937 and 1939 and in Berbati 1936-1937) and Turkey (Milas 1938 and Labraynda 1948-1950).
Of particular note was the uncovered dome tomb at Dendra , with treasures from Mycenaean times, excavated in 1926. The discovery was described as the largest archaeological find after Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt. The tomb contained a king, a queen and a princess. In addition, precious grave goods such as gold swords and precious metal bowls were found. The finds from the dome tomb ended up in the National Museum of Athens. Persson's findings were published in scientific monographs such as The Royaltombs at Dendra near Midea (1931). This work is considered a classic.
Together with his wife, he made an important humanitarian contribution to Greece during the Second World War in the service of the Red Cross.
After the end of the Second World War, Persson carried out new excavations. In Labraynda, the aim was to find the origins of the Minoan culture. However, a temple site of classical and Roman times was found. Soon after, Persson died of a stroke.
Between 1924 and 1951, Axel W. Persson was professor of classical archaeology and, through his discoveries, his writing and his lectures, made classical archaeology known and appreciated in Sweden. Persson was awarded the Övralid Prize.
At the time of his death, Persson was considered one of the world's leading archaeologists. He is also the father of Viktor Persson, better known as Bok-Viktor.
Pontus Wikner was born in a poor crofter's home in Valbo-Ryrs parish in Dalsland.
He came to Uppsala in 1856, where he was permanently influenced by neo-evangelicalism and by Rydberg and Geijer.
As a disciple of the philosopher Christopher Jacob Boström, Wikner initially developed Boström's ideas, and later subjected them to criticism in terms of philosophy of religion and epistemology. Against Boström's philosophy, which was based on God as the absolute reason, Wikner placed an image of God characterized by holy will and saw religion as an I-Thou relationship.
Between 1863-1884 Wikner was associate professor of theoretical philosophy in Uppsala and became a lecturer in theology and Hebrew at the Högre allmänna läroverket in Uppsala in 1873, and professor of philosophy and aesthetics in Kristiania (Oslo) in 1884.
In his most widely read work, Tankar och frågor inför Människones Son (1872; Thoughts and Questions for the Son of Man ), Wikner took a personal stand in the Christological battles of his day. He wanted to combine a biblically inspired revivalist piety with a culturally open humanism, and he was supported in Christian circles, especially in the Young Church and the Association for Christian Humanism.
When Pontus Wikner died in Oslo after a life marked by illness and personal crises, his remains were brought to Uppsala by the Student Union. A large number of students followed the remains to the grave.
More than 80 years (1971) after Wikner's death, his notes were published, in which he describes his homosexual orientation and the suffering it caused him.
Wikner also became an inspiration at the time when the modern gay movement emerged in Sweden in the 1970s; a movement that developed and today can be called the LGBTI movement.
Otto von Friesen was born in Kulltorps parish, Jönköping county, and his most important scientific works deal with runic writing.
In 1897 von Friesen became an associate professor of Nordic languages at Uppsala University.
He published Om runskrifts härkomst (1906) and Rökstenen (1920), in which he claimed that the enigmatic stone is about a conflict between Ostrogoths and Frisian merchants.
During the years 1905-1936, von Friesen was a professor of Swedish language, became a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1928 and was elected to the Swedish Academy in 1929.
After graduating with a master's degree in philosophy, Karin Westman Berg worked as a school teacher in Luleå and Härnösand between 1943 and 1957.
She received her doctorate in Uppsala in 1962 with Studier i C.J.L. Almqvist kvinnouppfattning (Studies in C.J.L. Almqvist's Conception of Women ) and edited several anthologies, such as Textanalys från könsrollssynpunkt (1976) and Gråt inte - forska (1979).
Westman Berg was a leading figure in Swedish feminist literary research and was a member of the board of the Fredrika Bremer Association between 1945 and 1977.
Westman Berg initiated and led gender role seminars at the Course Activities from 1967 to 1977. At that time, women's research seminars were started, which Westman Berg led until 1979. The seminars became an inspiring meeting place for people interested in women's issues and women's research.
A research position in women's and gender role issues gave her the opportunity to start the Women's Literature Project at the Department of Literature in Uppsala in 1978. At that time, women's literature referred to fiction written by Swedish women writers.
On her retirement in 1982, Karin Westman Berg was awarded the title of Professor.
Image description: Karin Westman Berg, year unknown. Photo: Inger Harnesk / Center for Gender Studies, Uppsala UniversityThe image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
Gunilla Bergsten was an associate professor of literature and devoted herself mainly to German literature, both in academic and popular science circles.
In 1963, she defended her thesis Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus, which attracted considerable international attention. It came to mean a great deal for Thomas Mann research because Bergsten skillfully unraveled the structure of Mann's novel construction while presenting extensive, previously unknown source material.
Gunilla Bergsten was also for many years theater reviewer in Upsala Nya Tidning.
Greta Arwidsson was born in Uppsala in 1906, the daughter of Ivar and Anna, who were both academics.
In the 1930s, after studying at Uppsala University, Arwidsson participated with Professor Sune Lindqvist in the investigations of the boat burial field at Valsgärde, which is located 7 km north of Uppsala on the Fyrisån River and is a large burial field used during the Iron Age.
She was an associate professor at Uppsala University, and later became the county antiquarian on Gotland and a member of the Swedish Academy of Letters. Arwidsson carried out several important surveys on Gotland. Arwidsson also participated in investigations of Birka and thus contributed to Birka research, including as editor and author of research publications.
In 1956, Arwidsson was appointed professor of archaeology. She was also internationally recognized for her work in archaeology. In her name, "Greta Arwidsson's Friends" was founded, an association for women active in national and union life in Uppsala.
From Greta Arwidsson's book from 1942 about the finds in Valsgärde. The picture shows a helmet found in one of the graves. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
In 1944, Greta Arwidsson and Gunnar Ekholm from Uppsala University examined six graves on Högåsen in Gamla Uppsala. Greta Arwidsson stands by the camera. Photo: Nils Sundquist [assumed] / Upplandsmuseet.
Image description: Greta Arwidsson at the Museum of Nordic Antiquities, Gustavianum, Uppsala, unknown year. Gunnar Sundgren / Upplandsmuseet. [The image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
Svante Arrhenius was born at Wik Castle outside Uppsala, where his father was a steward.
He was one of the foremost natural scientists of his time and was the first Swede to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1903 for his work on the electrolytic dissociation theory from 1887. It completely changed chemists' understanding of acids, bases and salts.
From the mid-1890s, Arrhenius' interests expanded to geophysics and cosmic physics. He considered himself a physicist but his main discoveries were mainly in chemistry.
From 1905 Arrhenius was the director of the Nobel Institute for Physical Chemistry, established by the Academy of Sciences in the same year.
Arrhenius also became internationally known as a popular science writer through the publication of The Evolution of Worlds (1906), Man in the Face of the World Riddle (1907), Smallpox and its Control (1930), The Fate of the Stars (1915) and Chemistry and Modern Life (1919).
Image description: Svante Arrhenius, year unknown. Photo: Unknown photographer / Tekniska Museet. [The image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
Rutger Sernander became associate professor of plant geography in 1895 and later professor of plant biology from 1908 to 1931.
His research areas included plant distribution biology, lichen biology, forestry, dendrology, archaeology, and the development of climate and plant life in Scandinavia after the ice ages.
Sernander was an internationally recognized scientist and among his works are Den skandinaviska vegetationens spridningsbiologi (1901) and Zur Morphologie der Diasporen (1927).
Sernander also wrote about important places from a natural and cultural point of view. In particular, he wrote about Uppland and Gamla Uppsala, Rickebasta träsk, Flottsund and also the book about Uppsala Kungsäng, which Gustav Sandberg completed and published.
Sernander led an intense struggle to preserve unique plant communities, such as Fiby primeval forest and Uppsala Kungsäng. The platform for nature conservation work became the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, which Sernander helped to found in 1909, and was its chairman from 1917-1930.
Professor Sernander with students before 1944, Uppsala University. Photo: Paul Sandberg / Upplandsmuseet.
Professor Sernander on Upplands fornminnesförenings spring excursion, Uppland 1936. Photo: Paul Sandberg / Upplandsmuseet.
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.
