Nicolay Heinrich "Nic" Knudtzon (17 March 1922 – 7 February 2013) was a Norwegian telecommunications engineer. He graduated in

electronic engineering Electronics engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering which emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current ...

from 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 ...

in 1947. He was hired at the

Norwegian Defence Research Establishment The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (''Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt'' – ''FFI'') is a research institute that conducts research and development on behalf of the Norwegian Armed Forces and provides expert advice to political and mi ...

, and remained here for several years except for studies at the

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

in 1948. He worked with developing radio links; the first in Norway opened in 1954 between Oslo and Bergen. In 1955 he was hired at the newly established

SHAPE Technical Centre The SHAPE Technical Centre or Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Technical Centre (STC) was formerly known as the SHAPE Air Defence Technical Centre (SADTC). It was formed in 1955 and located in The Hague, Netherlands. It conducted rese ...

as communications director. While working in the Netherlands he took a doctorate at the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

. In 1967 he was hired as director of the new Televerkets Forskningsinstitutt at

Kjeller Kjeller is a village located near Lillestrøm in the municipality of Lillestrøm, Norway. It is located 25 kilometers north-east of Oslo. Name The Norse form of the name was probably ''Tjaldir''. This is then the plural of ''tjald'' n ' tent'. T ...

, the research establishment of the telecommunications monopolist Televerket. He remained so for 25 years. Partially based on the contributions from TF research, Televerket in the 1990s transformed to the modern corporation

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...

. Knudtzon was also a council member of

NTNF The Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research ( no, Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Forskningsråd) or NTNF was the first of five research councils established in Norway. It existed from 1946 until the end of 1992, when the f ...

. He was a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences ( no, Norges Tekniske Vitenskapsakademi, NTVA) is a learned society based in Trondheim, Norway. Founded in 1955, the academy has about 500 members. It is a member of the International Council of Aca ...

. He was a great-grandson of

Ludvig Ludvigsen Daae Ludvig Ludvigsen Daae (7 December 1834 – 17 March 1910) was a Norwegian historian and author. He was a professor at the University of Oslo for more than thirty years. Biography He was born in Aremark in Østfold and died in Kristiania (now Oslo) ...

, and as such published Daae's memoirs in 2003. He was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1993. He died in February 2013.

References

1922 births 2013 deaths Norwegian Institute of Technology alumni Delft University of Technology alumni Norwegian expatriates in the United States Norwegian expatriates in the Netherlands Norwegian engineers Directors of government agencies of Norway Members of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences {{Norway-business-bio-stub