Harald Nicolai Storm Wergeland (14 March 1912 – 25 January 1987) was a Norwegian

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

. He was a professor 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 ...

. He was born in

Norderhov Norderhov is a former municipality located within Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Municipality Norderhov municipality was established on January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). According to the 1835 census the municipality had a popul ...

as a son of forest manager Harald Nicolay Storm Wergeland (1884–1953) and Ebba Marie Weien (1889–1952). In 1937 he married Hedvig Louise Ording, a sister of Fredrik Ording. 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 in 1931. He graduated as a

chemical engineer In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is a professional, equipped with the knowledge of chemical engineering, who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the ...

from the

in 1936 and earned the dr.philos. degree in 1942. He was briefly a teacher at Trondheim Commerce School before working as an assistant at the Norwegian Institute of Technology from 1939. Wergeland worked as a professor of physics from 1946 to 1979 at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, now the

Norwegian University of Science and Technology 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 ...

Gløshaugen Gløshaugen is a neighborhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the borough of Lerkendal, approximately southeast of Midtbyen, the downtown center of Trondheim. It is situated east of the neighborhood of El ...

. He also served as associate professor at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

from 1948 to 1949. Wergeland participated in the foundation of

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

and was a leading member of Pugwash in Norway. He served as praeses of the

Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters ( da, Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab, DKNVS) is a Norwegian learned society based in Trondheim. It was founded in 1760 and is Norway's oldest scientific and scholarly institution. The s ...

from 1958 to 1965. He was a member 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 ...

from 1943, the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters {{Infobox organization , name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters , full_name = , native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab , native_name_lang = , logo = Royal ...

from 1964 and the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

. He was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1960 and received the

Gunnerus Medal The Gunnerus Medal ( no, Gunnerusmedaljen) is a medal awarded by the learned society Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters. It was inaugurated in 1927, and named after Johan Ernst Gunnerus, founder of the learned society. Members of the l ...

in 1970.

References

External links

The family tree of Harald Wergeland on Geni.com
1912 births 1987 deaths Norwegian chemical engineers Norwegian physicists Norwegian Institute of Technology alumni Norwegian Institute of Technology faculty Norwegian expatriates in the United States Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters Members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters People associated with CERN {{Norway-academic-bio-stub