Gustaf Svanberg the Elder

1802-1882.

Astronomer.

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

Between 1833-1835 Svanberg studied earth 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 ca 1860 and the avenue.
Photo: Artist Eric Österlund (1812-1907) / UUB.

The Observatory neighborhood 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) that is still in the main dome of the observatory.

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

 

Burial site: 0109-0461B

Image description: Portrait of Gustaf Svanberg, ca 1870-1880. Photo: Henri Osti / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Finn Malmgren

1895-1928.

Research traveler, meteorologist, hydrologist.

Finn Malmgren was born in Gothenburg. In 1912, Malmgren enrolled at Uppsala University, where he later earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics, physics and chemistry.

Malmgren later participated in the polar explorer Roald Amundsen's Arctic expedition as assistant to the scientist Harald Ulrik Sverdrup.

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

In 1927, Malmgren defended his thesis on the properties of sea ice. Malmgren later became an associate professor of meteorology.

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

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

During the North Pole expedition with the airship Italia in 1928, it crashed on the ice north of Spitsbergen. After a long hike, Finn Malmgren died and his remains were left on the ice. Parts of the expedition were rescued by the Russian icebreaker Krassin.

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

 

Burial site: 0136-1508

Image description: Finn Malmgren, 1928. photo: Wikimedia commons. [The image is cropped]
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