Alf Bonnevie Bryn (26 August 1889 – 12 September 1949) was a Norwegian

patent engineer A patent engineer or patent scientist is a patent professional who is typically involved in preparing and prosecuting patent applications. The terms are usually applied to patent professionals with scientific or engineering backgrounds that do not r ...

, mountaineer, golf player, novelist and non-fiction writer.

Personal life

Bryn was born in

Kristiania 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, an ...

, the son of Alfred Jørgen Bryn and a grandson of Jacob Aall Bonnevie. He was married to Sofie Lind Mortensen from 1912 to 1920, to Sigrid Gude from 1921 to 1945, and to Bodil Harriet Martinsen from 1946. He died in Oslo in 1949.

Career

Bryn finished his

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

in 1906, and then enrolled for engineering studies in Switzerland. He was an eager climber, and was a co-founder of the mountaineering club

Norsk Tindeklub Norsk Tindeklub (Norwegian Alpine Club) is a Norwegian mountaineering association. The club was founded in 1908. The association issues climbing guides and mountaineering books. The club has issued several jubilee books in the series ''Norsk F ...

in 1908. He made several first ascents in Switzerland, Corsica and Norway, including the first successful ascent of

Stetind or is a mountain in Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located about northeast of the village of Kjøpsvik. The mountain has very smooth sides reaching all the way to the fjord. Stetinden has an obelisk-shape which gives it ...

in 1910 (together with

Ferdinand Schjelderup Ferdinand Schjelderup (8 March 1886 – 30 July 1955) was a Norwegian mountaineer, Supreme Court Justice and resistance member during the German occupation of Norway. Personal life He was born in Kristiania as the son of Thorleif Frederik Schj ...

and

Carl Wilhelm Rubenson Carl Wilhelm Rubenson (30 July 1885 – 29 July 1960) was a Swedish-born Norwegian mountaineer and non-fiction writer. Personal life Rubenson was born in Stockholm to landowner Carl Otto Rubenson and Elise Johansen. He married Ragnhild Fougne ...

). Among his 1910 climbs were also first ascents of the

Lofoten Lofoten ( , ; ; ) is an archipelago and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. T ...

summits

Svolværgeita Geita or Svolværgeita () is a tall pinnacle at the southwest face of the mountain Fløyfjellet (Nordland), Fløyfjellet on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago. The high Fløyfjellet is located on the edge of the town of Svol ...

and

Trakta Litlkorsnestinden, (nicknamed: ''Trakta'', ) is a mountain in Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The tall mountain lies on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago, just south of the Trollfjorden. The summit is the mos ...

, both times accompanied by Schjelderup and Rubenson, and the first ascent of Klokketind. Bryn graduated from the Polytechnicum in Zürich in 1911, and subsequently worked for his father's patent office for many years. During this period he took part in a number of different sports, both as athlete and organizer. These included golf, tennis, boxing, rowing and motor sports. He also published several crime novels, about the detective "Peter van Heeren". These were later basis for a film from 1957. He was among the supporters of Amundsen and Nobile's 1926 Polar Expedition with the airship

Norge Norge is the Norwegian (Bokmål and Riksmål), Danish and Swedish name for Norway. It may also refer to: People * Kaare Norge (born 1963), Danish guitarist * Norge Luis Vera (born 1971), Cuban baseball player Places * 11871 Norge, asteroid ...

. In 1927 he established his own company, ''Alf B. Bryns Patentbyrå''. In 1931 he defended his doctorate thesis on patent law, ''Über die Frage der Erfindungshöhe''. He subsequently published articles and books on the subject. From 1940 to 1941, he worked as manager at the Ministry of Provisioning. He was arrested in 1941, and released after five months in custody, at

Møllergata 19 Møllergata 19 is an address in Oslo, Norway, where the city's main police station and jail was located. The address gained notoriety during the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, when the Nazi security police kept its headquarters here. This ...

and

Grini Grini is a district in northeastern Bærum, Norway. Concentration camp The name Grini is best known from the concentration camp of the same name, but this camp lay further west and had no actual connection to the Grini area. History The name ...

. In 1943 he published the book ''Tinder og banditter'' about climbing experiences in Corsica together with George Finch and Max Finch.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryn, Alf Bonnevie 1889 births 1949 deaths Writers from Oslo 20th-century Norwegian engineers Norwegian mountain climbers Norwegian non-fiction writers Grini concentration camp survivors 20th-century Norwegian novelists Norwegian male novelists Norwegian crime fiction writers Norwegian nature writers 20th-century non-fiction writers Norwegian male non-fiction writers