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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Vivi Täckholm

1898-1978.

Botanist, author.

Vivi Täckholm studied at Stockholm University and conducted botanical studies in Berlin, London and Geneva.

In 1926, she and her husband, Professor of Botany Gunnar Täckholm, moved to Cairo and together they mapped the plant world of Egypt.

After her husband's death in 1933, she completed work on the Flora of Egypt, which was published in four parts, Part 1 (1941), Part 2 (1944), Part 3 (1954) and Part 4 (1966). In 1946, Täckholm became Professor of Botany at the University of Cairo and lived there for most of her life.

Täckholm also published several popular botanical works, such as Pharaoh's Flowers (1951), Egypt in Close-up (1964), The Desert in Bloom (1969) and The Minarets of the Saga (1971).

Vivi Täckholm also wrote children's books, such as The Saga of Snipp Snapp Snorum (1926) and Lillans resa till månen (1976). In the 1960s, Täckholm also gained a lot of attention through several TV programs.

 

Burial site: 0131-1356

Image description: Vivi Täckholm, year unknown. Photo: Staffan Norstedt / 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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