Kåre Dorenfeldt Tønnesson (1 January 1926 – 26 September 2019) was a Norwegian historian and professor at the University of Oslo. He

finished Finished may refer to: * ''Finished'' (novel), a 1917 novel by H. Rider Haggard * ''Finished'' (film), a 1923 British silent romance film * "Finished" (short story), a science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp See also *Finishing (disa ...

his secondary education at Valler in 1944. After enrolling in philological studies at 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 ...

in 1945 he graduated with the cand.philol. degree in history in 1952. His master's thesis delved into

causality Causality (also referred to as causation, or cause and effect) is influence by which one event, process, state, or object (''a'' ''cause'') contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (an ''effect'') where the cau ...

in the writings of

Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works ...

. In 1959 Tønnesson took the dr.philos. degree with the thesis ''La défaite des sans-culottes'', "The Defeat of the

Sans-culottes The (, 'without breeches') were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the . The ...

". He was a lecturer in history at the University of Oslo from 1958,

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

from 1960,

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from 1964 and professor from 1969 to 1991. From 1973 to 1975 he was the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

at the Faculty of History and Philosophy. After retiring from the professorship, he was a scholar in

NAVF The Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities (Norges almenvitenskapelige forskningsråd, NAVF) was one of Norway's five research councils. It was established in 1949. NAVF was responsible for funding the natural sciences. In 1993, t ...

and the

Research Council of Norway The Research Council (also the Research Council of Norway; no, Norges forskningsråd) is a Norwegian government agency that funds research and innovation projects. On behalf of the Government, the Research Council invests NOK 11,9 billion (2021) ...

. Larger works include volume four of ''Sentraladministrasjonens historie'' in 1979 and volume ten of '' Aschehougs verdenshistorie'' in 1985. This was also translated into Swedish and was reissued in 2001. In 1989 he marked the 200th anniversary of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

with the book ''Revolusjonen som rystet Europa''. The book was published in Norwegian and also translated into Swedish. In 2007 he released a biography on

Madame de Staël Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

. A

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

in Tønnesson's honor was released in 1995,. He was a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Univer ...

. Tønnesson was born in

Ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...

, and grew up 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 ...

. He died in September 2019 aged 93. He was the father of

Stein Tønnesson Stein Dorenfeldt Tønnesson (born 2 December 1953), is a Norwegian historian. Career He was the director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) from 2001 to 2009, when he was replaced by Kristian Berg Harpviken. Stein Tønnesson stays on at ...

References

1926 births 2019 deaths Writers from Bærum 20th-century Norwegian historians University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters {{Norway-historian-stub