Axel Heiberg (16 March 1848 – 4 September 1932) was a

Norwegian 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 ...

diplomat and financier as well as a patron of the arts and sciences.

Biography

Heiberg was born in

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) 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 i ...

(now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of Johan Fritzner Heiberg (1805–1883) and Emma Wilhelmine Munch (1818–1888). His father was a professor at the University of Kristiania and general surgeon in the

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...

. Heiberg studied abroad and was for a period Norwegian

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states th ...

in China. He returned to Norway where in 1876 together with the brothers Amund Ringnes and Ellef Ringnes he financed the creation of the Ringnes brewery. Together with shipping magnate

Thomas Fearnley Thomas Fearnley (27 December 1802 – 16 January 1842) was a Norwegian romantic painter, a pupil of Johan Christian Dahl and a leading representative of Norwegian romantic nationalism in painting. His son Thomas Fearnley (1841–1927) founded ...

, the brewery sponsored the polar expeditions of

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 186113 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, and humanitarian. He led the team t ...

and

Otto Sverdrup Otto Neumann Knoph Sverdrup (31 October 1854, in Bindal, Helgeland – 26 November 1930) was a Norwegian sailor and Arctic explorer. Early and personal life He was born in Bindal as a son of farmer Ulrik Frederik Suhm Sverdrup (1833–1914) ...

, and funded the construction of the exploration vessel '' Fram''. This led to Heiberg's name being given to

Axel Heiberg Island Axel Heiberg Island ( iu, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᑦ ᓄᓈᑦ, ) is an uninhabited island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Located in the Arctic Ocean, it is the 32nd largest island in the world and Canada's seventh largest island. Accordin ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, the

Axel Heiberg Glacier The Axel Heiberg Glacier in Antarctica is a valley glacier, long, descending from the high elevations of the Antarctic Plateau into the Ross Ice Shelf (nearly at sea level) between the Herbert Range and Mount Don Pedro Christophersen in the ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

as well as Heiberg Islands in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

. In 1878 Heiberg was one of the founders of the rowing club Christiania RK. Later he founded the "Consul Axel Heiberg and Manufacturer Hans B. Fasmer Fund" (in 1915 transferred to the Fridtjof Nansen Fund). In 1898 he was one of the founders of the

Norwegian Forestry Society The Norwegian Forestry Society ( no, Det norske Skogselskap, often shortened to ''Skogselskapet'') is an interest organisation in Norway. It was established as ''Det norske Skogselskab'' in 1898, with Axel Heiberg as its first chairman. Its pu ...

, and was chairman until 1923. He also funded the statues of

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential pla ...

and

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

located outside the National Theater in Oslo.

Personal life

He was married to Ragnhild Meyer (1849–1937), daughter of landowner, businessman and philanthropist,

Thorvald Meyer Thorvald Meyer (23 September 1818 – 3 February 1909) was a Norwegian businessman and philanthropist. He was a wholesaler, retailer and shipowner as well as a land owner and developer. Biography Meyer was born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norwa ...

(1818–1909). They had one child, Ingeborg Heiberg (1884–1974), who married businessman and landowner, N. O. Young Fearnley (1881–1961).

References

Other sources

* Waldemar Christofer Brøgger (1932), "Axel Heiberg in memoriam", ''Nordisk Tidskrift för Vetenskap, Konst och Industri''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Heiberg, Axel 1848 births 1932 deaths Businesspeople from Oslo Norwegian expatriates in China Norwegian company founders 19th-century diplomats 19th-century Norwegian businesspeople 20th-century Norwegian businesspeople Norwegian brewers Norwegian diplomats Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour