Jacob Aall (27 July 1773 – 4 August 1844) was a Norwegian

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, landowner and government economist. He was born the son of Nicolai Benjamin Aall (1739-1798), who was a merchant in

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn was ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and owner of Ulefos Manor. He was also the nephew of merchant Jacob Aall (1754-1826).

Career

In 1791, Aall began attending a school in

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Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

where he earned a

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in 1795. After graduating, he returned to Norway where he tried working as a cleric, but he felt that his abilities were not well at use and decided to take up other studies. In 1796, he returned to Copenhagen, where he began studying

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. In 1797, he journeyed to

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, touring the scientific schools of

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and

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. In Germany he became acquainted with the

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Abraham Gottlob Werner Abraham Gottlob Werner (; 25 September 174930 June 1817) was a German geologist who set out an early theory about the stratification of the Earth's crust and propounded a history of the Earth that came to be known as Neptunism. While most tenet ...

. In 1799, after spending the winter at the academy of mines in Freiberg, Aall returned to Norway. Following his father's death, he invested his patrimony in the purchase of the immense Nes Iron-works in the

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

ore region. After purchasing the iron-works, the operation became more efficient, but was placed in a difficult position at the outbreak of the English Wars in 1801. However, the business persevered. In 1814 he took a prominent part in the framing of the free

Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...

, and for fourteen years (1816-1830), he was a leading member of the

Storting The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

, the Norwegian National Assembly. As a writer, he translated and published Snorri Sturluson's '' Heimskringla''. His ''Reminisciences'' (1844-1845) is a repository of data concerning the contemporaneous history of the

Scandinavian peninsula The Scandinavian Peninsula ( sv, Skandinaviska halvön; no, Den skandinaviske halvøy (Bokmål) or nn, Den skandinaviske halvøya; fi, Skandinavian niemimaa) is a peninsula located in Northern Europe, which roughly comprises the mainlands ...

. In his later years, Aall increasingly withdrew from public life, and left most of the work at the iron-works to his son.

Personal life

In 1799 he married Louise Andrea Stephansen (1779-1825), with whom he had at least one son.

Legacy

Aall lent his name to Jacob Aall Street in

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 ...

. He was one of the 41 Norwegian citizens who helped make the creation of the

University of Oslo 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 ...

(previously named Royal Frederick University) possible through donations. Aall was bestowed upon the Medal for Bogerdåd, the Order of Vasa and the Order of the Polar Star. He was a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and the Royal Danish Science Ernes Society.

References

*The original version of this article was taken directly from the ''New Americanized Encyclopædia Britannica (Twentieth Century Edition)'', The Saalfield Publishing Company, Akron, Ohio, 1903. *Parliament member periods were fetched fro
NSD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aall, Jakob Members of the Storting 1773 births 1844 deaths 19th-century Norwegian historians Fathers of the Constitution of Norway Politicians from Porsgrunn Jakob Place of death missing