Hans Wangensten Paus (born 26 July 1891 in

Trondhjem Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

, died 1975), often known as H.W. Paus, was a Norwegian road engineer and Director of the roads department at the Directorate of Public Roads. He is also known for authoring several works on the history of road engineering in Norway. He studied engineering at the

Norwegian Institute of Technology The Norwegian Institute of Technology (Norwegian: ''Norges tekniske høgskole'', NTH) was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 58 years, after which it was m ...

1914–1919 and graduated as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

. He also became a

commissioned officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

in the

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...

in 1916. He worked at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration for his entire career. He was an engineer in

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

and

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The co ...

before he was employed at the Directorate of Public Roads in 1937. In 1949, he became director of its most important department, the roads departments, and served in this position until he retired in 1961. He was a son of the noted railway engineer

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Tollef Lintrup Paus (1843–1915), and a member of the

Paus The Paus family () is a Norwegian family that first appeared as members of the elite of 16th-century Oslo and that for centuries belonged to Norway's "aristocracy of officials" as priests of the state church, judges and other higher government of ...

family. H.W. Paus was also noted as an historian of road engineering in Norway, and was also interested in

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...

and

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

."Hans Wangensten Paus", obituary by

Karl Olsen Karl Olsen (27 December 1910 – 21 February 1999) was a Norwegian civil servant. Early life He was born in Farsund, and graduated as siv.ing. from the Norwegian Institute of Technology. Career From 1962 to 1980 he served as director of the ...

, ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...

'', 1975-07-18

Honours

*Knight First Class of the

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim. The Order of the ...

King's Medal of Merit in Gold The King's Medal of Merit (Norwegian: ''Kongens fortjenstmedalje'') is a Norwegian award. It was instituted in 1908 to reward meritorious achievements in the fields of art, science, business, and public service. It is divided in two classes: gold ...

Publications

*H.W. Paus, ''Norges vegdirektører og vegsjefer'', 1956, second and extended edition 1962 *H.W. Paus, ''Militæres innsats i norsk veibygging : en historisk oversikt'', in ''Norsk Militært Tidsskrift'' 10/1964 *H.W. Paus, ''Norges generalvegmestre : generalvegmesterperioden 1665–1824'', 1966 *H.W. Paus, ''Norges vegbestyrere : vegbestyrerperioden 1824–1864'', 1969

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paus, H.W. 1891 births 1975 deaths Directorate of Public Roads people 20th-century Norwegian engineers Norwegian Army personnel Knights First Class of the Order of the Polar Star Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in gold Hans Wangensten