Dorte Marianne Olesen (born 1948) is a Danish mathematician. In 1988 at Roskilde University, she became the first Danish woman to be appointed a full professor of mathematics. She has also played a leading role in the development of education and research networks, both in Denmark and at the European level.

Early life, education, and family

Born on 8 January 1948 in Hillerød, she was the daughter of the medical specialist and academic Knud Henning Olesen (1920–2007) and the physician Irene Mariane Pedersen (1919–2004). After matriculating from Sortedam Gymnasium in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, following in her parents¨footsteps she began to read medicine at Copenhagen University, hoping to become a

biophysicist Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study Biology, biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from Molecule, molecular to organismic ...

. As this was not possible, she studied mathematics instead, graduating in 1973 and receiving the university's gold medal for a dissertation on operator algebra. She went on to

Odense University Odense University was a university in Odense, Denmark. It was established in 1966. In 1998, the university was merged with two other institutions to form the University of Southern Denmark. Its campus is now known as University of Southern Denmark ...

where she received a Lic.Scient (equivalent to a PhD) in mathematics in 1975. She also went on study trips to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

(1971–72),

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

(1974 & 1979) and

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

(1984–85). When she was 23, Olesen married one of her teachers at Copenhagen University, Gert Kjærgaard Pedersen (1940–2004), who became a prominent mathematics professor. Together they had three children, Just (born 1976), Oluf (1980) and Cecilie (1984).

Career

Olesen returned to Copenhagen University as a senior scholar in 1975, becoming a lecturer at the university's mathematical institute in 1980. In 1988, she was appointed Professor of Mathematics at Roskilde University, the first Danish woman to become a full professor in the field. In 1989, she was appointed executive director of UNI-C, a Danish government department devoted to promoting the use of information technology in research and education. She managed the development of UNI-C until 2011, establishing the Danish

NREN A national research and education network (NREN) is a specialised internet service provider dedicated to supporting the needs of the research and education communities within a country. It is usually distinguished by support for a high-speed backb ...

research network, developing computer services and experimenting with online support for education. In parallel, she also promoted the use of the internet for education, including its use in elementary schools, and supported the development of e-business for Denmark. At the European level, in 1992 Olesen became a member of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

's High Performance Computing and Networking Advisory Committee. From 2001 to 2005, she served on the commission's Expert Group on ICT in Education while acting as president of

TERENA The Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association (TERENA, ) was a not-for-profit association of European national research and education networks (NRENs) incorporated in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The association was originally f ...

, the Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association, from 2003 to 2009. From 2010 to 2011 she participated in the commission's High Level Expert Group on the Future of GÉANT. In 2013, she was a member of the Expert Group on the Implementation of the ERA Communications. Finally, from 2014 to 2017, she served on the Board of Directors of GÉANT during the merger of

DANTE Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

and TERENA.

Awards

In 1992, Olesen was awarded the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

and in 2000, was honoured as a Knight of the First Class. She received the

Tagea Brandts Rejselegat The Tagea Brandts ''Rejselegat'' (Travel Scholarship) is a Danish award to women who have made a significant contribution in science, literature or art. The grant, which is given without application, was created and endowed by Danish industrialist ...

in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olesen, Dorte 1948 births Living people People from Hillerød Municipality Danish mathematicians Danish women mathematicians Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Academic staff of Roskilde University Knights First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog