Erik Magnus Alfsen (13 May 1930 – 20 November 2019) was a Norwegian mathematician. He is the author of ''Compact Convex Sets and Boundary Integrals'', published in 1971. He was a board member of the

Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities The Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities (Norges almenvitenskapelige forskningsråd, NAVF) was one of Norway's five research councils. It was established in 1949. NAVF was responsible for funding basic research in all discipline ...

(NAVF) for two years, and has also been involved in Nei til Atomvåpen and the Pugwash Conferences. He was a member of 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 ...

, 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 ...

and the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters ({{Langx, da, Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab or ''Videnskabernes Selskab'') is a Danish academy of science. The Royal Danish Academy was established on 13 November 1742, and was create ...

Personal life

He 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 ...

as the son of school headmaster Knut Alfsen (1897–1978) and his wife Harriet Helander Nilsen (1901–1991). He was the grandson of Magnus Alfsen, and a first cousin of Lars Walløe. Both his father and grandfather were headmasters and writers of a well-known textbook in mathematics. In July 1955 he married Ellen Platou; his father-in-law was then Carl Platou.

Career

Erik Alfsen enrolled in 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 ...

in 1949, studied at

Institut Henri Poincaré The Henri Poincaré Institute (or IHP for ''Institut Henri Poincaré'') is a mathematics research institute part of Sorbonne University, in association with the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). It is located in the 5th arrondi ...

from 1954 to 1955, and back in Oslo, he took the cand.real. degree in 1955. After two years as a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

in NAVF, he was appointed as lecturer at the University of Oslo. After a time as visiting assistant professor in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

from 1961 to 1962, he was promoted to

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 Oslo in 1963 and was a professor from 1975 to 2000.

References

1930 births 2019 deaths Architects from Oslo University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters Members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Norwegian expatriates in France Norwegian expatriates in the United States Artists from Oslo Norwegian anti–nuclear weapons activists 20th-century Norwegian mathematicians 21st-century Norwegian mathematicians {{Norway-academic-bio-stub