Gustaf Svanberg the Elder

1802-1882.

Astronomer.

Gustaf Svanberg was born in Botilsäter in Värmland and graduated from Uppsala in 1819. He first studied classical languages, but switched to mathematics and astronomy and was professor of astronomy from 1842 to 1875.

Between 1833-1835, Svanberg studied terrestrial magnetism in Germany. As a member of parliament, Svanberg succeeded in obtaining funding for a modern observatory in Uppsala, which was built in the area between Rackarbacken and the old fjärdingstullen, the area now known as Observatorieparken.

The observatory c. 1860 and the avenue.
Photo: Artist Eric Österlund (1812-1907) / UUB.

The Observatory block before 1890, view from the north.
Photo: Henri Osti / UUB.

The observatory was completed and inaugurated in 1853 and received its first main instrument, a 24 cm refractor from Steinheil in Munich. It was replaced in 1893 by the double refractor (36/33 cm) which is still in the main dome of the observatory.

Gustaf Svanberg organized regular meteorological observations from 1865. The Meteorology Department moved to the Ångström Laboratory in 2000, but the "Old Observatory" as it is called, is still used by amateur astronomers and for public tours.

 

Burial site: 0109-0461B

Image descriptionPortrait of Gustaf Svanberg, circa 1870-1880. Photo: Henri Osti / UUB [The image is cropped].
Click here for an uncropped image

 

 

Finn Malmgren

1895–1928.

Research traveller, meteorologist, hydrologist.

Finn Malmgren was born in Gothenburg. In 1912 he begun studying at Uppsala University where he completed a bachelor's degree in Mathematics, physics and chemistry.

Malmgren later participated in the polar researcher Roald Amundsen's expedition to the glacial sea as assistant to the scientist Harald Ulrik Sverdrup.

On-board the ship Maud, they left the Nome in Alaska in the summer of 1922 to, after spending three and half years on the ice, return to Alaska in August in 1925. Together they managed to collect a large research material and several observations.

Malgren defended, in 1927, a Ph.D. thesis on the properties of the sea ice. Later, Malmgren was associate professor in meteorology.

Finn Malmgren, May 1925, in front of the magnetic observation field. Photo: Stockholm University.

Finn Malmgren, May 1925 at his hoarfrost registrator. Photo: Harald Ulrik Sverdrup / Stockholm University.

At the North Pole expedition with the airship Italia in 1928, it crashed on the ice north of Spitsbergen. After a long walk, Finn Malmgren died and his remains remained on the ice. Part of the expedition was rescued by the Russian icebreaker Krassin.

Malmgren's name is on the Västmanlands-Dala nation's website Burial site and a statue of him, made by sculptor Nils Sjögren, was erected in 1931 in Börjeparken next to the Västmanland-Dala nation. The Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University awards a prize every three years in his memory for "contributions to Arctic research".

 

Burial site: 0136-1508

Image description: Finn Malmgren, 1928. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
Click here for an uncropped image