Kristian Gleditsch,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(30 June 1901 – 7 April 1973) was a Norwegian civil engineer and

geodesist Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...

. He served as and Director of the

Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority The Norwegian Mapping Authority (NMA) ( no, Statens kartverk or Kartverket) is Norway's national mapping agency, dealing with land surveying, geodesy, hydrographic surveying, cadastre and cartography. The current director is Johnny Welle. Its ...

from 1945 until 1971.

Background

He was born in

Tromsøysund Tromsøysund is a former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality encompassed most of what is now Tromsø Municipality including areas on the island of Kvaløya ...

(now Tromsø) in

Troms Troms (; se, Romsa; fkv, Tromssa; fi, Tromssa) is a former county in northern Norway. On 1 January 2020 it was merged with the neighboring Finnmark county to create the new Troms og Finnmark county. This merger is expected to be reversed by t ...

, Norway. He was a son of headmaster Karl Kristian Gleditsch (1851–1913) and Petra Birgitte Hansen (1857–1913). His family moved to

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 ...

and then Fredrikshald in 1905. From 1913 he lived with his sister

Ellen Gleditsch Ellen Gleditsch (29 December 1879 – 5 June 1968) was a Norwegian radiochemist and Norway's second female professor. Starting her career as an assistant to Marie Curie, she became a pioneer in radiochemistry, establishing the half-life of radiu ...

. He was a nephew of Jens Gran Gleditsch and Kristen Gran Gleditsch, a first cousin of

Henry Gleditsch Henry Cochrane Williamsen Gleditsch (9 November 1902 – 6 October 1942) was a Norwegian actor and theatre director. He was born in Kristiania. In his young days he participated in skiing for SFK Lyn. He married Synnøve Tanvik in 1932. He ...

and second cousin of Rolf Juell Gleditsch and

Odd Gleditsch, Sr Odd means unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric. Odd may also refer to: Acronym * ODD (Text Encoding Initiative) ("One Document Does it all"), an abstracted literate-programming format for describing X ...

. In February 1934 he married fellow activist Ingrid Margaret Haslund (1908–1996), better known as

Nini Haslund Gleditsch Nini Haslund Gleditsch (28 June 1908 – 25 July 1996) was a Norwegian political activist and advocate for peace. Personal life Nini (née Ingrid Margaret Haslund) was born in Moss as the daughter of deputy education officer Johannes Emmanue ...

Career

He took his

examen artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

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 ...

(now Oslo) in 1919, enrolled 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 ...

and graduated as a civil engineer in 1923. He studied further in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

until 1925. He worked for the

(then known as ) while studying, and when he returned to Norway in 1927 to work as a research assistant at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, he became a prominent member of the

Student Society in Trondheim The Student Society in Trondheim ( no, Studentersamfundet i Trondhjem, Samfundet for short) is Norway's largest student society. Besides housing a café, a restaurant, several bars and frequently hosting concerts and other activities (among t ...

, ''

Mot Dag Mot Dag (, 'Towards Day') was a Norwegian political group. The group was active from the 1920s to the early 1930s and was first affiliated with the Labour Party. After World War II, many of its former members were leaders in Norwegian politics and ...

'' and Clarté. He was also active in the

Communist Party of Norway The Communist Party of Norway ( no, Norges Kommunistiske Parti, NKP) is a communist party in Norway. The NKP was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. It was Stalinist from its establishment and, as such, supported t ...

, but was excluded in 1929 because of his membership in ''Mot Dag''. He worked as an editor of science articles in the working class encyclopedia ''

Arbeidernes leksikon (''The Laborers' Encyclopedia'') is a Norwegian encyclopedia published in six volumes in the 1930s. It was the first reference book in Norwegian to have a pronounced class bias, and the first encyclopedia outside of the Soviet Union to be direc ...

'' from 1932 to 1936, and worked in the publishing house

Arbeidermagasinet ''Arbeidermagasinet'' was a Norwegian language, Norwegian weekly literary magazine established in 1927. It changed its name to ''Magasinet For Alle'' in 1953, and ceased publication in 1970. The magazine is especially noted for its literary quali ...

in the same period. From 1936 to 1937 he was a secretary for the

Norwegian Support Committee for Spain 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 ...

, which sided with the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...

. He also chaired the

Norwegian Students' Society Norwegian Students' Society ( no, Det Norske Studentersamfund) is Norway's oldest student society. The Norwegian Students' Society was established during 1813 in Oslo, Norway. Two years after the Royal Frederick University (today named the Univer ...

in 1934 and 1937. From 1938 to 1940 he worked for the

(then known as ''Norges Geografiske Oppmåling'') in

Aker Aker may refer to: Places * Aker, Norway, a geographic area in Oslo and a former municipality in Norway * Vestre Aker, a district of Oslo within former Aker municipality * Nordre Aker, a district of Oslo within former Aker municipality * Aker Br ...

and

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 had to leave Norway in 1940 due to the

German occupation of 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 ...

, and was among those who oversaw the

flight of the Norwegian National Treasury The National Treasury of Norway consisted of 50 tonnes of gold worth in 1940 (approximately in 1940, or in 2015.) When the German invasion began, the gold was evacuated from Oslo first overland to Åndalsnes and then by ship to Tromsø. From Tro ...

. He settled in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

with his wife, and worked in the

Norwegian Ministry of Defence The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defence ( no, Det kgl. Forsvarsdepartement) is a Norwegian government ministry in charge of the formation and implementation of national security and defence policy, and for the overall management and control of th ...

from 1940 to 1943 and for the

Norwegian High Command The Norwegian High Command ( no, Forsvarets Overkommando, FO) was Norway's top military leadership from 1970 to 2003. It was established in Northern Norway in 1940 by General Otto Ruge. It was then re-established by the Norwegian Government-in-exile ...

from 1943 to 1945. After the liberation of Norway in 1945, he was appointed director of the

, a position he held until 1971. He also chaired the

Norwegian Geographical Society The Norwegian Geographical Society (in Norwegian: Det norske geografiske Selskab) is a Norwegian learned society founded in 1889. Among the initiators was geologist Hans Henrik Reusch, who chaired the society from 1898 to 1903, and again from 1907 ...

from 1949 to 1953. He became involved in the Norwegian

development aid Development aid is a type of aid, foreign/international/overseas aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political International development, development of developing countries. Closely-rel ...

project in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, as chairman of the aid foundation from 1958 to 1962. A significant motivation for the project was to please the leftist opposition within the Labour Party in a time of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

membership and increased spendings on defence. Gleditsch was decorated with the Defense Metal and was declared a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. He was decorated as a Commander of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

in 1970. He died on 7 April 1973 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gleditsch, Kristian 1901 births 1973 deaths Norwegian Institute of Technology alumni Norwegian socialists Norwegian civil engineers Norwegian geodesists Norwegian expatriates in France Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom Directors of government agencies of Norway Norwegian people of World War II Mot Dag Honorary Members of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal