Karin Westman Berg

1914-1997.

Literary scholars.

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.

 

Burial site: 0319-1349

Image description: Karin Westman Berg, year unknown. Photo: Inger Harnesk / Center for Gender Studies, Uppsala UniversityThe image is cropped]
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Greta Arwidsson

1906-1998.

Archaeologist.

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.

Burial site: 0217-1257

Image description: Greta Arwidsson at the Museum of Nordic Antiquities, Gustavianum, Uppsala, unknown year. Gunnar Sundgren / Upplandsmuseet. [The image is cropped]
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Svante Arrhenius

1859-1927.

Physicist, chemist.

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).

 

Burial site: 0152-0062

Image description: Svante Arrhenius, year unknown. Photo: Unknown photographer / Tekniska Museet. [The image is cropped]
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Rutger Sernander

1866-1944.

Botanists.

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.

Burial site: 0149-1955

Image description: Rutger Sernander, Uppsala ca 1895, photo: Heinrich Osti / UUBThe image is cropped]
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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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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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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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Olof Verelius

1618-1682.

Ancient scholar, philologist.

After studying in Dorpat and Uppsala, Olof Verelius worked as a teacher in noble families and traveled to Holland, Switzerland, Italy and France.

In 1653, Verelius was appointed Master of the Academy in Uppsala and became a member of Olof Rudbeck's circle of scholars. At the latter's suggestion, Verelius was awarded the newly established professorship in "Antiquities of the Fatherland" in 1662, as the country's first archaeology professor.

The following year, Verelius carried out the first archaeological excavation in Sweden, which took place in a burial mound at Broby in Börje parish.

In the 1670s, he had a house built at the Kamphavet quarter, which was located on what is now Martin Luther King's plan, a building that was probably designed by his friend Olof Rudbeck.

Verelius was also a prominent linguist and published Icelandic sagas and a work on runes.

In the dispute with Schefferus about the location of the so-called pagan temple, Verelius claimed that it was located in Old Uppsala and not on the site of the cathedral as Schefferus claimed.

Olof Verelius was the first to acquire a Burial site at the Hospital and Poor Cemetery, which has existed since the middle of the 17th century, on the site now known as the Old Cemetery.

The cemetery was purchased by the hospital board on October 26, 1676 and is the oldest known in the original Poor Law Cemetery.

The first known burial took place on February 9, 1682, when Olof Verelius was buried in a tomb that is still preserved. Olof Rudbeck carried out the burial according to Verelius' wishes.

 

Burial site: 0112-0615

Image description: Olof Verelius, lithograph by Otto Henrik Wallgren. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Carl Peter Thunberg

1743-1828.

Botanist, doctor.

In 1770, after studying with Carl Linnaeus, Carl Peter Thunberg embarked on a nine-year trip abroad that began in the Netherlands. There Thunberg met the most prominent botanists of the time.

Thunberg then studied medicine in Paris before sailing from the Netherlands to Cape Town as a ship's doctor, staying for three years to explore the nature of the area. These studies were documented in Flora capensis (1-3, 1807-1813). Thunberg was the first to describe the flora of South Africa and has therefore been called the father of South African flora.

In 1775 Thunberg continued to Japan where he collected material for his Flora japonica (1784). The work was epoch-making for the knowledge of Japan's plant world and Thunberg received the honorary name Japan's Linnaeus.

Plate of Japanese maple taken from Icones plantarum Japonicarum [plate 5 part V, 1805]. Photo: UUB.

Illustration (frontispiece) from Voyages de C. P. Thunberg au Japon [...], tome I, Paris, An. IV [1796]. Photo: UUB.

In 1779 Thunberg returned to Uppsala and in 1784 succeeded Carl Linnaeus the Younger as professor of medicine and botany.

Thunberg also published Resa uti Europa, Africa, Asia förrättad åren 1770-1779 (1-4, 1788-1793). The collections from the trips were deposited at the University Library.

Carl Peter Thunberg's farm Tunaberg north of Svartbäcken in Uppsala, where he lived for the rest of his long life, was known for its excellent horticultural crops well into the 1940s.

 

Burial site: 0101-0103

Image description: Portrait Carl Peter Thunberg, 1808, artist Pehr Krafft the Younger. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt / GustavianumThe image is cropped]
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