Axel Heiberg (16 March 1848 – 4 September 1932) was a Norwegian diplomat and financier as well as a patron of the arts and sciences.

Biography

Heiberg 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 ...

(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 () 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 in 1628. The ...

. 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 thro ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He returned to Norway where in 1876 together with the brothers Amund Ringnes and

Ellef Ringnes Ellef Ringnes (25 October 184215 March 1929) was a Norwegian brewer and patron. He was born at the Ringnes farm in Krødsherad, Buskerud to farmer Anders Knudsen Ringnes (1813–75) and his wife Maren Amundsdatter (1815–76). His father left the ...

he financed the creation of the

Ringnes Ringnes is the largest brewer in Norway. Ringnes is part of the Carlsberg Group. History Ringnes AS was founded in 1876. The company's brewery in the Grünerløkka district of Oslo produced its first beer in 1877. The brewery was founded by brot ...

brewery. Together with shipping magnate Thomas Fearnley, the brewery sponsored the polar expeditions of

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 1861 – 13 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, humanitarian and co-founded the ...

and

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

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

Axel Heiberg Island Axel Heiberg Island (, ) 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. According to Statistics Canada, it ha ...

in Canada, 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 Q ...

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

as well as

Heiberg Islands The Heiberg Islands, spelt ''Geyberg'', ''Gejberg'' or ''Geiberg'' (Russian: ''острова Гейберга''; ''ostrova Geyberga'' or also ''острова Акселя Гейберга'') is a group of four small islands covered with tundra ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. In 1878 Heiberg was one of the founders of the rowing club

Christiania RK Christiania Roklub is a rowing (sport), rowing club from Oslo, Norway. Established in 1878, it is based in Frognerkilen in the Oslofjord, not far from Skarpsno. Its characteristic club house is called "Kongen" ('The King'), and was erected in ...

. 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 (, 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 purpose is to promote forestry ...

, 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, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

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 Norway, Norwegian businessman and philanthropist. He was a wholesaler, retailer and shipowner as well as a land owner and developer. Biography Meyer was born in Oslo, Christiania (now ...

(1818–1909). They had one child, Ingeborg Heiberg (1884–1974), who married businessman and landowner,

N. O. Young Fearnley Nils Olav Young Fearnley (14 December 1881 – 30 June 1961) was a Norwegian businessperson and landowner. Personal life He was born in Kristiania to the ship-owner Thomas Fearnley (1841–1927) and his wife Elisabeth Young (1854–1932). ...

(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