Severin Andreas Heyerdahl (28 August 1870 – 26 June 1940) 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 ...

was a physician,

radiologist Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiatio ...

and hospital director. He was a pioneer in the use of

radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiat ...

and

radiation therapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radia ...

in Norway.

Biography

He was born in Kristiania (now

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 ...

), Norway. He was the son of Severin Andreas Heyerdahl (1818-75) and Ragna Møller (1832-1926). 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 ...

at Aars og Voss skole in 1888. He was hired as the manager of the

x-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

department at

Rikshospitalet Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet is one of the four main campuses of Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, Norway. It was an independent hospital, ''Rigshospitalet'', later spelled ''Rikshospitalet'' ("The National Hospital"), from 1826 to 2009 ...

in 1899. He took his dr.med. degree 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 1910. Heyerdahl started with radium treatment at the Rikshospitalet in 1912. Together with Hans L. C. Huitfeldt, he co-founded the cancer treatment clinic ''Kristiania Radium-Institutt'' in 1913. From 1919 he was a senior doctor at the Rikshospitalet and a lecturer in radiology at the

. He was instrumental in the establishment of the

Norwegian Radium Hospital Oslo University Hospital, Radiumhospitalet ( no, Oslo universitetssykehus, Radiumhospitalet) is one of the four campuses of Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, Norway, and is dedicated to cancer treatment. This part of the hospital is the most specia ...

(''Radiumhospitalet'') in 1932. Heyerdahl served as chief physician from 1932 to 1938, and director from 1932 to 1939.

References

1870 births 1940 deaths University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo 20th-century Norwegian physicians Norwegian radiologists Norwegian healthcare managers Norwegian nuclear medicine physicians Oslo University Hospital people Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour {{Norway-med-bio-stub