Adam Frederik Oluf Arndtsen (15 December 1829 – 7 August 1919) was a Norwegian professor and physicist.

Biography

Arndtsen was born at

Alstahaug Alstahaug is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandnessjøen. So ...

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

county, Norway. He was the son of Ole Arndtsen (1786-1846) and Wilhelmina Castberg (1788-1853). He studied at the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian conti ...

(now University of Oslo) earning his cand.med. in 1849. In 1854, he took a job as a physics teacher at the

Norwegian Military Academy The Norwegian Military Academy (), in Oslo, educates officers of the Norwegian Army and serves as the King's Royal Guard. The academy was established in 1750, and is the oldest institution for higher education in Norway. History The Commander- ...

. In 1859 he lost out to Hartvig Caspar Christie in a competition to succeed Lorentz Christian Langberg as an academic of physics at Royal Frederick University. In 1857, a scholarship brought him abroad to train with

Wilhelm Eduard Weber Wilhelm Eduard Weber ( ; ; 24 October 1804 – 23 June 1891) was a German physicist and, together with Carl Friedrich Gauss, inventor of the first electromagnetic telegraph. Biography Early years Weber was born in Schlossstrasse in Witte ...

(1804-1891) at Georg-August-Universität of

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

and

Émile Verdet Marcel Émile Verdet (; 13 March 1824 – 3 June 1866) was a French physicist. He worked in magnetism and optics, editing the works of Augustin-Jean Fresnel. Verdet did much to champion the early theory of the conservation of energy in France thro ...

at the

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Arndtsen was appointed at the

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 20 ...

in 1860. In 1864 he was awarded the Crown Prince's gold medal (''Kronprinsens gullmedalje'') for the dissertation regarding the use of electricity in medicine (''Om Electricitetens Anvendelse i Medicinen''). He was a professor of physics teacher at the

from 1873 until 1903. He became the first director of the Norwegian Metrology Service, serving from 1875 to 1914. From 1900 to 1914 he also represented Norway in the

International Bureau of Weights and Measures The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (, BIPM) is an List of intergovernmental organizations, intergovernmental organisation, through which its 64 member-states act on measurement standards in areas including chemistry, ionising radi ...

. In 1897, he was awarded the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; 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, known to posterity as St. Olav. Just be ...

Selected works

Physikalske Meddelelser
with

Christopher Hansteen Christopher Hansteen (26 September 1784 – 11 April 1873) was a Norwegian geophysicist, astronomer and physicist, best known for his mapping of Earth's magnetic field. Early life and career Hansteen was born in Christiania as the son of ...

(1858)

References

1829 births 1919 deaths People from Alstahaug University of Oslo alumni Norwegian physicists Norwegian educators Directors of government agencies of Norway Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal {{Norway-scientist-stub