Ole Hartvig Nissen (17 April 1815 – 4 February 1874) was a Norwegian philologist and educator. He founded Nissen's Girls' School in Christiania in 1849. In 1865 he became director-general in the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, while remaining one of three joint headmasters of Nissen's Girls' School until 1872. In 1873 he was appointed to the prestigious position as rector of

Oslo Cathedral School Schola Osloensis, known in Norwegian language, Norwegian as Oslo Katedralskole (''Oslo Cathedral School'') and more commonly as "Katta",

Personal life

Hartvig Nissen was born in

Melhus Melhus is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Melhus. Other villages include Gåsbakken, Hovin, Korsvegen, Kvål, Ler, Lundamo, St ...

as a son of Lutheran priest, Peder Schjelderup Nissen (1775–1826) and Bolette Margrethe Musæus (1774–1859). He was a grandson of Martinus Nissen and first cousin of

Rasmus Tønder Nissen Rasmus Tønder Nissen (14 January 1822 – 19 January 1882) was a Norwegian, educator, theologian and politician. Biography Nissen was born at Melhus in Sør-Trøndelag. He attended to Trondheim Cathedral School graduating in 1839. He was Can ...

. He was the 8th child in his family of 10 children. His great-grandfather Niels Hansen Nissen was born in

Fredericia Fredericia () is a town located in Fredericia Municipality in the southeastern part of the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. The city is part of the Triangle Region, which includes the neighbouring cities of Kolding and Vejle. It was founded in 16 ...

in Denmark and moved to

Trondheim 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 ...

in Norway, where he became a merchant. "Nissen" is a

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

surname meaning "son of Nis," Nis being a form of

Niels Niels is a male given name, equivalent to Nicholas, which is common in Denmark, Belgium, Norway (formerly) and the Netherlands. The Norwegian and Swedish variant is Nils. The name is a developed short form of Nicholas or Greek Nicolaos after Sai ...

used in

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

No-nb bldsa 1c198 Karen Magdalena Nissen

In June 1843 in Christiania he married Karen Magdalena Aas (1820–1900), a granddaughter of Erik Andreas Colban. They were the parents of cartographer

Per Schjelderup Nissen Per is a Latin preposition which means "through" or "for each", as in per capita. Per or PER may also refer to: Places * IOC country code for Peru * Pér, a village in Hungary * Chapman code for Perthshire, historic county in Scotland Math ...

and architect Henrik Nissen. His daughter Helga Johanne Arentz Nissen married Johan Johannson and was the mother of

Johan Johan * Johan (given name) * Johan (film), ''Johan'' (film), a 1921 Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller * Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group ** Johan (album), ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group * Johan Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunav ...

and Ole Hartvig Nissen Johannson. Hartvig Nissen upper secondary school, Oslo Norway

Hartvig and Karen were also grandparents of prison director Hartvig Nissen and

Kristian Nissen Kristian is a name in several languages, and is a form of Christian. Meaning in different languages The name is used in several languages, among them Albanian, Slovak, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Bosnian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and ...

Career

He had great influence on educational policy in Norway in the 19th century, being the architect behind several law reforms. In 1873 he became rector at the

Oslo Cathedral School Schola Osloensis, known in Norwegian language, Norwegian as Oslo Katedralskole (''Oslo Cathedral School'') and more commonly as "Katta",

. He was a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters from 1852. He was elected deputy representative for the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

in 1857 and in 1859, and was appointed Knight of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II ...

in 1864.

Selected works

* ''Om kvindelig Dannelse og kvindelige Undervisningsanstalter'', (1849) * ''Grundtræk af en Plan for Omdannelsen af Almueskolen paa Landet'', (1851) * ''Om Almueoplysningen og Almueskolen'', (1852) * ''Udkast til Love om Almueskolevæsenet paa Landet og i Kjøbstæderne med Begrundelse'', (1856) * ''Om Ordningen af vort høiere Skolevæsen'', (1865)

References

Other sources

*Boyesen, Einar with Therese Bertheau, Chr S. Mellbye, Henriette Nissen (1924) ''Nissens pikeskole 1849-1924'' (Oslo: J.W. Cappelens Forlag) *Boyesen, Einar (1947) ''Hartvig Nissen 1815–1874 og det norske skolevesens reform'' (Oslo: Johan Grundt Tanum) *Slagstad, Rune (1998) ''De nasjonale strateger'' (Pax-bok)

External links

Hartvig Nissens Skole official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nissen, Hartvig 1815 births 1874 deaths People from Melhus Norwegian philologists Norwegian educators Deputy members of the Storting Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters