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 (NAVF) for two years, and has also been involved in Nei til Atomvåpen and the

Pugwash Conferences The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats. It was ...

. He was a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, 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 Unive ...

, the

Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters ( da, Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab, DKNVS) is a Norwegian learned society based in Trondheim. It was founded in 1760 and is Norway's oldest scientific and scholarly institution. The ...

and the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters {{Infobox organization , name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters , full_name = , native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab , native_name_lang = , logo = Royal ...

Personal life

He was born in

Oslo 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 ...

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 Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wi ...

, and a first cousin of

Lars Walløe Lars Walløe (born 20 May 1938) is a Norwegian academic, chemist, physiologist, and scientific adviser to the Norwegian government. He was Head of Norwegian Delegation to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) ...

. 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 ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top univers ...

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 arrond ...

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 a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

from 1961 to 1962, he was promoted to

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de con ...

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