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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Adolf Noreen

1854-1925.

Linguists.

Adolf Noreen was born in Östra Ämtervik in Värmland and defended his thesis Fryksdalsmålets ljudlära in 1877. The thesis deals with the dialect from his homeland and was the first dialect description based on scientific principles.

Noreen published handbooks on language history, for example on Old Icelandic in Altisländische Grammatik (1884) and on Old Swedish in Altschwedische Grammatik (1904).

In his major work Vårt språk (1903-1924) he sets out his basic view of language and presents a blueprint for grammar. Noreen was also one of the driving forces behind the spelling reform of 1906.

Between 1887-1919 Adolf Noreen was professor of Nordic languages, was elected member of the Academy of Sciences in 1902, member of the Academy of Sciences in 1917 and became member of the Swedish Academy in 1919.

Together with Johan August Lundell, he founded Upsala Enskilda Läroverk (now Lundellska Skolan) in 1892. Adolf Noreen was a very popular teacher and worked in a time that can be considered a golden age of linguistics.

 

Burial site: 0115-0823

Image description: Adolf Noreen, Uppsala ca 1880-ca 1890. Photo: Heinrich Osti / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Frithiof Holmgren

1831-1897.

Doctors.

Frithiof Holmgren established Sweden's first physiological laboratory in 1862 and became the country's first professor of physiology at the age of 33. He was also one of the most prominent teachers of his time at Uppsala University.

He became a world-famous scientist with the discovery of the retinal blood flow in the eye.

The studies of color blindness made Holmgren internationally known and in 1874 he described his method of using differently colored "sequined dolls", the so-called wool yarn test, to detect color blindness.

The method was of great practical importance for people in signal service, such as railway staff and seamen. A train accident in Lagerlunda in 1875 was suspected to have been caused by the inability of a dead engineer to distinguish between red and green. No one had considered that color vision could be important for railway personnel.

The equipment used by Holmgren to discover the retinal current, the electrical response of the retina to light. The equipment consists of a mirror galvanometer and a light catcher with a clockwork that drives the mirror. Photo: Museum of Medical History in Uppsala.

Sefirgarns dolls for carrying out the test of color vision developed by Holmgren, which became compulsory for all those to be employed in rail and maritime traffic. Photo: Museum of Medical History in Uppsala.

A more macabre study undertaken by Holmgren focused on whether beheading was a painless method of execution. Holmgren therefore attended four beheadings to examine the method from a physiological point of view. According to Holmgren, the case studies showed that beheading as a method met the requirements of painlessness. When the study was completed, he was also present at the execution of the so-called Alfta murderer in Gävle in 1893.

Holmgren also participated in the debates in Verdandi, and his radical stance was reflected in his dictation to the minutes of the consistory:

"I hold freedom of thought to be one of man's most precious privileges, and the university in which the principle of freedom of thought is not paramount does not, in my opinion, fulfill its task. To educate the young people studied to become thinking men should, in my opinion, be one of the main tasks of the university".

Frithiof Holmgren also emphasized the importance of physical education and founded the Studenternas Sharpshooting Association, the Studenternas Gymnastics Association and was chairman of the folk dance association Philochoros and promoter of the Uppsala Swimming Society. 

 

Burial site: 0125-1141

Image description: Frithiof Holmgren, year unknown. Photo: Unknown photographer / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Åke Holm

1909-1989.

Zoologist, museum curator.

Åke Holm was born in Norrtälje and later in life became Sweden's foremost arachnologist (spider researcher) and he is considered the creator of modern spider embryonology.

He published a number of important works on embryology and taxonomy and led research trips to Abisko and the Torneträsk area, East Africa, Spitsbergen, 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 with participants on one of the research trips to East Africa. Photo: The Museum of Evolution in Uppsala.

Olle Hedberg who participated in one of the research trips to East Africa. Photo: The Museum of Evolution in Uppsala.

Åke Holm was curator at the Department of Zoology 1947-1975 and as curator at the Zoological Museum he was in charge of the collections dating from the time of Linnaeus and Thunberg.

 

Burial site: 0147-1877

Image description: Åke Holm, Torneträsk, 1969. Photo: From private collectionThe image is cropped].
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Anders Gustaf Ekeberg

1767-1813.

Chemist.

Anders Gustaf Ekeberg was the son of shipbuilder Joseph Eric Ekeberg and Hedvig Ulrica Kilberg.

In 1784, Ekeberg enrolled at Uppsala University, where he was taught by Carl Peter Thunberg, among others. After graduation and study trips, Ekeberg became an associate professor of chemistry in 1794.

In 1799, Ekeberg was elected to the Royal Academy of Sciences. In 1802, he discovered the element tantalum (Ta).

An explosion in the early 1800s left Ekeberg blind in one eye.

One of Ekeberg's scientific discoveries was a method for making strong, clear and translucent porcelain. He took the secret of this method to his grave.

His friends carved his name on a stone pillar in the cemetery wall and three words in Latin: Chemico (he was a chemist) Amicitia (friendship) Memor (memory) and the year of his death in Roman letters MDCCCXIII. Photo: Henrik Zetterberg.

The picture shows the Ekeberg Prize awarded by the Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center. Photo: TIC.

In recognition of Ekeberg's pioneering work, an award was established in 2017 by the TIC (Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center), to promote the knowledge and understanding of tantalum. The award was named the Anders Gustaf Ekeberg Tantalum Prize ("Ekeberg Prize") in his memory.

 

Burial site: 0101-0030

Image description: Portrait of Anders Gustaf Ekeberg from Mellin, Gustaf Henrik (ed.) 427 porträtter af namnkunniga svenske män och fruntimmer, Stockholm, 1847. Photo: LIBRIS-ID:1579474The image is cropped]
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Fredrik Tamm

1847-1905.

Linguists.

Fredrik Tamm was born in Tveta in Södermanland and in 1875 he defended his thesis on Swedish etymology, which is the study of the historical origins of words, and compiled the Etymological Swedish Dictionary up to and including the letter K.

Tamm devoted himself in particular to etymological work and Swedish dictionary theory. For many years Tamm deputized for the ailing professor of Swedish language, Frits Läffler. Between 1883-1898 Tamm was acting professor of Swedish language for a total of ten years.

Uppsala University tried to establish a professorship for Tamm, but it was not granted by the Royal Majesty. Maj:t, probably because at the time there was already a professor of Nordic languages and one of Swedish. In 1897, Tamm was instead given the name, honor and dignity of professor.

Soon afterwards, Tamm's wife passed away and he was diagnosed with facial cancer. The surgery he underwent left his speech severely impaired.

On his birthday, March 30, 1905, he died and Nathan Söderblom gave the eulogy in which it was said:

"No one could be a better listener than he, whether it was for funny stories or scientific lectures, which he faithfully attended to the end whenever they were offered".

 

Burial site: 0132-1406

Image description: Fredrik Tamm with his wife Augusta Josefina Elisabeth Lundqvist, Uppsala 1894. Photo: Alfred Dahlgren / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Johan Bredman

1770-1859.

Astronomer.

Johan Bredman, born in Oviken in Jämtland, became an associate professor of mathematics in 1801 and in 1802 an assistant professor at the observatory.

At that time, the observatory was in such a state that practical work could not be carried out satisfactorily. All the instruments were from Celsius' time and by the end of the 18th century the observatory was considered to be condemned. Bredman was a professor of astronomy from 1811 to 1841 and also a textbook author.

He is mentioned in Wennerberg's Glunterne regarding "another planet whose name not even Bredman knows" (Gluntarne no.3 Uppsala är bäst). Contemporaries said that Bredman was a skilled lecturer and interested teacher.

Johan Bredman was Norrland's first inspector and benefactor, and was honored with the nation's largest tombstone. He bequeathed money to the observatory and to scholarships for Norrlanders and other charitable causes.

 

Burial site: 0119-0995

Image description: Johan Bredman, oil painting from 1841 by Carl Staaff. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Fredric Mallet

1728-1797.

Astronomer, mathematician.

Fredric Mallet enrolled at Uppsala University in 1745, majoring in astronomy and mathematics.

In 1754, Mallet embarked on an educational tour of Europe, a journey that lasted 28 months. After his return, he was appointed observer at the Uppsala Observatory on Svartbäcksgatan in the St. Per district, a position he held for 16 years.

By the end of the 18th century, the Celsius Observatory had fallen into disrepair, but the building still stands in central Uppsala. Its location in the middle of the city did not make it particularly suitable for observations. The instruments trembled as the horse-drawn carriages moved along Svartbäcksgatan and the view was obscured by chimney smoke.

Astronomical Observatory, Uppsala. Engraver Fredrik Akrel. Illustration from Busser, Johan B., Utkast till beskrifning om Upsala, del 2, Uppsala 1769, p. 112. The house was completed in 1741. Photo: UUB.

The building in 2019, which at the time of the photo housed a goldsmith and various university departments. Photo: Henrik Zetterberg.

In 1769, Mallet was commissioned by the Academy of Sciences to study the transit of Venus from Pello in the Torne Valley. Venusian transits, when Venus passes over the solar disk, used to be important from a scientific point of view. By studying the passage of Venus from several different locations on Earth, scientists were able to determine the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

In 1773, Fredric Mallet was appointed Professor of Mathematics, a position he held until 1794.

 

Burial site: 0109-0466

Image description: Portrait of Fredric Mallet. Painting by O. Arenius. Photo: Henrik Zetterberg. [The image is cropped]
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Adolph Murray

1751-1803.

Anatomist, surgeon.

In 1764 Murray enrolled at Uppsala University. At first he devoted himself to botany, but became increasingly interested in anatomy and dissections.

His anatomy studies led to a thesis in 1771, which he defended under Linnaeus' supervision. In 1772 Murray was awarded a doctorate in medicine in Uppsala. After his thesis, Murray embarked on an educational journey in Europe and was appointed professor of anatomy at Uppsala University in 1774.

He returned to Uppsala in 1776 and took up his post. In 1778 Murray became Uppsala's first professor of surgery. In his scientific work he published a number of treatises and many other writings.

A notable contribution in Swedish is Avhandling om anatomiens framsteg i nyare tiden( Treatise on the progress of anatomy in recent times), which constituted his extensive presidential address to the Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1794 when he became its president.

Page from lecture notes. Murray is the author. Photo: UUB.

Murray's amputation tools for soft tissue and bone cutting. The picture also shows a treatise by Murray from 1798. Photo: Urban Josefsson, Museum of Medical History.

The Museum of Medical History in Uppsala houses a unique collection of surgical and gynecological instruments collected by Adolph Murray. Letters between Murray and Linnaeus are preserved at Uppsala University.

 

Burial site: 0109-0461A

Image description: Adolph Murray, ca 1787-ca 1835. Engraver, Erik Åkerland. Photo: 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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