Anders Jonas Ångström

1814–1874.

Physicist.

Anders Jonas Ångström is best known as one of the founders of the optical spectroscopy.

Ångström was the first to observe the spectrum of hydrogen, an observation that formed the basis of the Balmers formula and thus constituted the experimental basis for Bohr's atomic theory.

Ångström studied the solar spectrum in depth, especially the lines of Frauhofer. The Recherches sur le spectre sunaire Study (1868) contained a precise determination of the wavelengths of the lines of Fraunhofer. In addition, Ångström made regular observations in several locations to provide a basis for the complete production of magnetic conditions in Sweden.

Ångström was also the first to investigate the northern lights spectroscopally. The unit for light wavelength, corresponding to 0.1 nanometers, was adopted as an international unit and was named Angstrom.

Anders Ångström was Professor of physics in 1858 – 1874 and was elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1850.

1996 the Ångström laboratory was inaugurated at Polacksbacken, where a number of science disciplines related to physics and chemistry have been given their research centres.

 

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 Parson Thore Fries and Sara Elisabeth Wernelin. He became one of leading figures of mycology, who produced writings that still play a scientific role.

Originally, Fries studied at Lund University and he became associate professor of botany at the age of 20.

He later moved to Uppsala University and was in 1851 Professor of practical economics and botany. He was also the prefect of the Botanical Garden and the museum there.

Fries was especially focused on the study of fungi, but his research touched on all the fields of botany. His most influential work was Systema Mycologicum, which was Fries's systematic work regarding fungi. Other mycological works were Elenchusfungorum and Hymenomycetes Europaei.

Fries propagated to use fungi as food, by the work of plates Sweden's edible and poisonous mushrooms. The interest in mycology was transferred to several of the children. For example, the son and daughter, Elias Petrus and Susanna (Sanna) Christina, draw several plates with mushrooms which several are preserved in Uppsala.

Fries also published the popular scientific papers Botanical Flyers (1-3, 1843 – 1864).

In addition to rector of the university, Elias Fries was a member of the Swedish Academy.

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 1860's. Photo: UUB. [The image is cropped]
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Olof Verelius

1618–1682.

Scholar, philologist.

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

In 1653 Verelius was appointed to economist in Uppsala and came to belong to Olof Rudbecks research circle. On his proposal, Verelius received the newly created professorship in "The Fatherland's Antiques" 1662, as the country's first professor of archeology.

The following year, Verelius performed the first archaeological excavation in Sweden, which occurred in a mound at Broby in Börje Parish.

In the 1670s, he had built a house, which was at the current Martin Luther King's place, a building that was probably designed by his friend Olof Rudbeck.

Verelius was also a prominent linguist and published Icelandic fairy tales and a work about runes.

In the feud with Schefferus about placement of the so-called heathen temple, Verelius argued that it was in old Uppsala and not in the cathedral's place as Schefferus claimed.

Olof Verelius was the first to acquire a burial site in the cemetery for the hospital and the poor, which has since become what is called the Old Cemetery today.

The burial site was purchased by the Hospital board on 26 October 1676 and is the oldest known in the original cemetery for the poor.

The first known funeral took place on February 9, 1682, when Olof Verelius was buried in a grave chamber which still is preserved. Olof Rudbeck conducted the funeral 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, writer.

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

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

After her husband's death in 1933, she completed the work of Flora of Egypt , which was released 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 a number of popular botanical works, such as the Pharaoh's Flower (1951), Egypt in close-up (1964), the Desert Blossoms (1969) and the Fairytale Minarets (1971).

Vivi Täckholm also wrote children's books, such as the saga of Snipp Snapp Snorum (1926) and Lillan's journey to the Moon (1976). In the 1960s, Täckholm also received a lot of attention through several television programs.

 

Burial site: 0131-1356

Image description: Vivi Täckholm, unknown year. Photo: Staffan Norstedt / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Carl Peter Thunberg

1743–1828.

Botanist, physician.

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

Thunberg then pursued medical studies in Paris before being the ship's doctor on a ship going from the Netherlands to Cape Town, to stay for three years to explore the area's nature. The studies were documented in Flora capensis (1-3, 1807 – 1813). Thunberg was the first to describe the flora in 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 of Japan's Linnaeus.

Poster of Japanese Maple retrieved from Icones plantarum Japonicarum [Poster 5 part V, 1805]. Photo: Uppsala University Library.

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

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

Thunberg also published the Journey in Europe, Africa, Asia, established the years 1770–1779 (1-4, 1788 – 1793). The collections from the trips were deposited at the University library.

Carl Peter Thunberg's estate Tunaberg, north of the Svartbäcken creek in Uppsala, where he lived the rest of his long life, was known for his prestigious horticulture well into the 1940s.

 

Burial site: 0101-0103

Image description : Carl Peter Thunberg, 1801. Engraver Anton Ulrik Berndes. Photo: UUB. [ The image is cropped ]
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