Jacob Aall Bonnevie (31 December 1838 – 13 August 1904) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

educator, school director and text book author. He served as a member of the Norwegian Parliament for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Biography

Bonnevie was born in Christiania (now

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

), Norway. He was the son of Honoratus Bonnevie (1797–1848) and Sophie Augusta Baumann (1804–95). His father would later become mayor of the city. Bonnevie graduated in 1856, then studied science at the

University of Christiania The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

becoming

cand.real. Candidatus realium or candidata realium (abbreviated cand. real.) is a former academic degree used in Norway, and conferred in mathematics and natural sciences. It was abolished in 1985. There was originally no set duration for the completion of th ...

in 1863. After finishing his education, he started teaching at Christiania Cathedral School from 1862. In 1865, he transferred to

Kristiansand Cathedral School Kristiansand Cathedral School (''Kristiansand katedralskole Gimle''), known in Latin as ''Schola Christiansandensis'', is a high school in Kristiansand, Agder, Norway. It is the oldest high school on the southern coast of Norway, having been fo ...

. In 1872, at the age of 34, Bonnevie was appointed school superintendent of

Trondheim 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 ...

school district, an office he held until 1894. As a school director he was a reformer, particularly promoting the role of sciences in the Norwegian school system. He also wrote much-used text books on

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

and

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...

. Bonnevie was also active in national politics, where he was the

's foremost spokesman on educational issues. He was elected to the parliament six times, and sat in the period from 1880 to 1897. Bonnevie represented

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 ...

Levanger Levanger is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the district of Innherred. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Levanger. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Alstadhaug, Ekne, ...

between 1880 and 1891. He served as a representative of

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 15 ...

from 1892 to 1894 and Nedenes amt (now

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, en, "East Agder") was a county (''fylke'') in Norway until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . The ...

) from 1895 to 1897. In 1889, Bonnevie was appointed Minister of Education and Church Affairs in the first cabinet of Prime Minister

Emil Stang Emil Stang (14 June 1834 – 4 July 1912) was a Norwegian jurist and politician. He served as the 5th prime minister of Norway from 1889–1891 and again from 1893–1895. He also served as the first leader of the Conservative Party from 1884–18 ...

, which lasted until 1891. Later, in 1895, he was himself asked to form a coalition government, but the negotiations failed.

Personal life

Bonnevie was married twice. In 1863, he married Anne Johanne Daae (1839-1876). They were the parents of seven children born between 1864 and 1876. Following the death of his first wife, he was married during 1878 to Susanne Bryn (1848-1927) with whom he had two children born between 1879 and 1881. His eldest daughter Sofie Honoria Bonnevie (1864–1928) married physicist and meteorologist

Vilhelm Bjerknes Vilhelm Friman Koren Bjerknes ( , ; 14 March 1862 – 9 April 1951) was a Norwegian physicist and meteorologist who did much to found the modern practice of weather forecasting. He formulated the primitive equations that are still in use in num ...

(1862–1951). He was also the father of physician

Kristine Bonnevie Kristine Elisabeth Heuch Bonnevie (8 October 1872 – 30 August 1948) was a Norwegian biologist, Norway's first female professor, women's rights activist and politician for the Free-minded Liberal Party. Her fields of research were cytology, genet ...

(1872-1948), Supreme Court justice

Thomas Bonnevie Thomas Bonnevie (12 September 1879 – 19 May 1960) was a Norwegian Supreme Court justice. Biography Bonnevie was born at Trondheim, Norway. He was a son of Member of Parliament and cabinet minister Jacob Aall Bonnevie (1838–1904) and Anne Joh ...

(1879-1960) and jurist

Carl Bonnevie Carl Emil Christian Bonnevie (28 April 1881 – 26 September 1972) was a Norwegian jurist and peace activist. He also served as a Member of the Norwegian Parliament. Biography Bonnevie was born in Trondheim as the son of Jacob Aall Bonnevi ...

(1881-1972). Bonnevie died in 1904, while attending a school conference in

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Selected works

*''Kortfattet Lærebog i Geometri'', 1870 *''Kortfattet Lærebog i Arithmetik og Algebra'', 1871 *''Historisk lærebog for folkeskolen'' (with A. Ræder), 1894

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnevie, Jacob Aall 1838 births 1904 deaths Schoolteachers from Oslo University of Oslo alumni Heads of schools in Norway Norwegian textbook writers Government ministers of Norway Members of the Storting Norwegian people of French descent Bjerknes family

Jacob Aall Jacob Aall (27 July 1773 – 4 August 1844) was a Norwegian politician, historian, landowner and government economist. He was born the son of Nicolai Benjamin Aall (1739-1798), who was a merchant in Porsgrunn, Norway and owner of Ulefos Manor ...

Ministers of Education of Norway Politicians from Oslo