Francis Sejersted (8 February 1936 – 25 August 2015) was a Norwegian history professor and the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee (which awards the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

) from 1991 until 1995.

Early life

Sejersted was born in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. He performed his military service at the prestigious Russian language program of the

Norwegian Armed Forces The Norwegian Armed Forces () are the armed forces responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Norwegian Coast Guard, Coast Guard, the Royal Norwegian Air ...

. He was later educated in history as well as Nordic linguistics and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

and achieved a cand.philol. degree in 1965 and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 1973. In 1962 Francis Sejersted was president of the Norwegian Students' Association representing the

student wing A student wing is a subsidiary, autonomous, or independently allied front of a larger organization that is formed in order to rally support from students and focus on student specific issues, typically of those attending college or university. Stu ...

of the

Conservative Party of Norway The Conservative Party or The Right (, , , H; ) is a liberal-conservative List of political parties in Norway, political party in Norway. It is the major party of the Norwegian centre-right, and was the leading party in government as part of the ...

, a party with which he remained affiliated.

Career

From 1971 to 1973 Sejersted served as ''

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

'' in history at the

and was thereafter professor of

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and

economic history Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the Applied economics ...

at the same institution until 1998. From 1988 to 1998 he served as director of the Centre for Technology and Culture at the university and from 1999 until his death in 2015 he was a fellow of the

Institute for Social Research Institute for Social Research may refer to: * Norwegian Institute for Social Research, a private research institute in Oslo, Norway * University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, a research institute in Frankfurt, Germany * University of ...

. As a historian, Sejersted's field of expertise was the economical, technological and political history of Scandinavian countries between the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. From 1971 to 1975 he was editor of ''Historisk Tidsskrift'' ("Historical Review") and since 1984 served as co-editor of '' Nytt norsk tidsskrift''. Sejersted was a member of the board at the Institute for Comparative Cultural Studies 1974–1982 and at the Norwegian Research Council for Basic Research 1980-1983 as well as chairman of the Norwegian Science Policy Council 1984–1988. Sejersted was a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee (which awards the Nobel Peace Prize) from 1982 to 1999, and from 1991 to 1995 was its chairman. From 1990 to 1999 he also was board member of the

Nobel Foundation The Nobel Foundation () is a private institution founded on 29 June 1900 to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes. The foundation is based on the last will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. It also holds Nobel Sym ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. From 1996 to 1996 he chaired the governmental Freedom of Expression Commission in Norway and became chairman of The Freedom of Expression Foundation in 2000. In 1985 he entered the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, 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 University in Christiania was establis ...

, in 1989 the ''

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

'', The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences in 1993, The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences 1995, The

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () 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 responsibility for promoting nat ...

1997 and finally in 2001 The

Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (, DKNVS) is a Norway, Norwegian learned society based in Trondheim. It was founded in 1760 and is Norway's oldest scientific and scholarly institution. The society's Protector is King Harald V of ...

. He was also a member of the

Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature The Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature (), commonly known as the Norwegian Academy, is a Norwegian learned body on matters pertaining to the modern Norwegian language in its Dano-Norwegian variety, now commonly known as Riksmål and Bo ...

. In 1999 he became an honorary doctor at

University of Linköping A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Francis Sejersted was Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...

and of

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden''), sometimes translated as the Royal Order of the North Star, is a Swedish order of chivalry created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 F ...

Death

Sejersted suffered a long

illness A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

and died on 25 August 2015 in Oslo, aged 79.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sejersted, Francis 1936 births 2015 deaths Academic staff of the University of Oslo 20th-century Norwegian historians Members of Academia Europaea Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences Chairpersons of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Members of the Norwegian Academy Commanders of the Order of the Polar Star Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog Norwegian Army personnel