Jens Bache-Wiig (15 November 1880 – 6 May 1965) 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 ...

engineer and industrialist.

Early life and education

He was born at

Bøn Bøn is a village in Akershus, 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 ...

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information E ...

to factory owner Hartwig Bache-Wiig (1850–1922) and his wife Amalie Kristine Holt (1851–1940). His father and his brother Carl operated a

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall ...

factory at Bønsdalen until 1889, when the family moved to

Kristiania 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 ...

. At some point after the 1899 Kristiania

housing bubble A housing bubble (or a housing price bubble) is one of several types of asset price bubbles which periodically occur in the market. The basic concept of a housing bubble is the same as for other asset bubbles, consisting of two main phases. Firs ...

burst, Bache-Wig moved to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to study engineering. He first attended the

West Saxon University of Applied Sciences of Zwickau West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

, and then the

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 w ...

, where he took his final exam in 1902.

Career

In 1906, Bache-Wiig was employed by the

Westinghouse Electric Company Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, includi ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, United States. After that, he was appointed professor in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

at the newly established

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 ...

, where he stayed until 1916. In 1912–13, he published papers on the calculation of

electrical machine In electrical engineering, electric machine is a general term for machines using electromagnetic forces, such as electric motors, electric generators, and others. They are electromechanical energy converters: an electric motor converts electricity ...

s with AC and DC generators. In 1916, he became managing director of

Elektrisk Bureau Elektrisk Bureau or EB was a Norwegian manufacturer of telecommunication equipment. It was founded in 1882 and lasted until 1993 when it became part of Asea Brown Boveri (ABB). The company was located at Billingstad in Asker. History In 1882 ...

, a manufacturer of telecommunication equipment. He left Elektrisk Bureau for Standard Electric – a subsidiary of the

International Telephone and Telegraph ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses ...

(ITT) – in 1926. In 1931, he was appointed director-general of ITT's Germany division, and received also the responsibility for the ITT's operations in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. Four years later, he resigned from the position, in protest against the New York head office intervening in his area of responsibility. During the

Quisling regime The Quisling regime or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the fascist collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 19 ...

German-occupied Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

, Bache-Wiig served in the non-political

Administrative Council Administrative Council () was a part of Council of State of the Congress Poland. Introduced by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815, it was composed of 5 ministers, special nominees of the King and the Namestnik of the Kingdom of Polan ...

until September 1940, when it was replaced by the ''

Reichskommissariat Norwegen The Reichskommissariat Norwegen was the civilian occupation regime set up by Nazi Germany in German-occupied Norway during World War II. Its full title in German was the Reichskommissariat für die besetzten norwegischen Gebiete ("Reich Commissa ...

'' headed by the Norwegian Nazi Terboven. In this Council, he was the Head of the

Ministry of Trade A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and Mi ...

and the

Ministry of Provisioning The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Industrial Provisioning ( no, Provianteringsdepartementet) was a Norwegian ministry that existed from 1917 to 1922. It was established on 26 August 1916, during the first World War. It ceased to exist on 31 October 1 ...

. In 1944, he succeeded

Axel Aubert Axel Aubert (11 December 1873 – 16 December 1943) was a Norwegian chemical engineer who served as Director-General of Norsk Hydro. Biography He was born in Kristiania (now Oslo, Norway). He was the son of Otto Benjamin Andreas Aubert (1841–9 ...

as managing director of

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around the world an ...

Marriages and death

Bache-Wiig married Tordis Nicolaysen (1885–1934) on 8 December 1906; this marriage ended in divorce. He married Hjørdis Tidemand-Johannessen (1891–??) on 20 June 1939. He died in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

on 6 May 1965, and then was buried at

Vår Frelsers gravlund The Cemetery of Our Saviour ( no, Vår Frelsers gravlund) is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bache-Wiig, Jens 1880 births 1965 deaths People from Eidsvoll Norwegian electrical engineers Academic staff of the Norwegian Institute of Technology Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour