Matthias Wilhelm Sinding (18 July 1811 – 11 February 1860) was a Norwegian mining engineer and factory founder. He was born in

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

as a son of Ulrik Rosing Sinding and Mette Marie Bang. He was a distant relative of

Hans Rosing Hans Rosing (9 August 1625 – 13 April 1699) was a Norwegian clergyman. He served as Bishop of the Diocese of Oslo from 1664 until 1699. Biography He was born at Brønnøy Municipality, Brønnøy in Nordland county, Norway. He was the son of C ...

(1625–1699). In May 1841 in

Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production and fo ...

he married Cecilie Marie Mejdell (1817–1886), a sister of Nicolai and

Thorvald Mejdell Thorvald Mejdell (21 September 1824 – 28 October 1908) was a Norwegian forester. He was born in Ringsaker as a son of colonel Gløer Gløersen Mejdell (1782–1827) and Thorine Krog. He was a nephew of officer Jacob Gerhard Meydell and brother ...

and an aunt of

Glør Thorvald Mejdell Glør Thorvald Mejdell (29 May 1851 – 24 November 1937) was a Norwegian barrister, judge and political writer. He was born in Kongsberg as a son of mining engineer Nicolai Mejdell (1822–1899), nephew of forester Thorvald Mejdell and grandneph ...

. They had three notable children;

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants '' Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fr ...

and

Stephan Sinding Stephan Abel Sinding (4 August 1846 – 23 January 1922) was a Norwegian- Danish sculptor. He moved to Copenhagen in 1883 and had his breakthrough the same year. In 1890 he obtained Danish citizenship. In 1910 he settled in Paris where he liv ...

. Christian was a composer, Otto a painter and Stephan a sculptor. Through Otto he was the paternal grandfather of painter Sigmund Sinding, and through his own brother and sister he was an uncle of

Alfred Sinding-Larsen Nils Ulrik Alfred Sinding-Larsen (5 June 1839 – 28 January 1911) was a Norwegian civil servant, teacher at the Military Academy, journalist and writer. Personal life He was born in Fredrikstad as a son of physician (1808–1876) and Frederikke ...

and the three siblings Ernst Anton Henrik Sinding, Elisabeth Sinding and

Gustav Adolf Sinding Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

. He finished his secondary education as a private candidate in 1831, then graduated in mining from the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian conti ...

in 1835. He worked for the

Royal Norwegian Mint The Royal Norwegian Mint () is a mint in Norway responsible for producing coins of the Norwegian krone The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is the currency of the King ...

in Kongsberg from 1836 to 1841. He remained at Kongsberg until 1844, when he assumed a position as mine superintendent in Central and Northern Norway. He contributed to the change in

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...

factories, from the use of

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

to the use of

pyrite The mineral pyrite ( ), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue ...

as a raw material. He founded his own sulfuric acid factory Lysaker Kemiske Fabrik in 1859, but died in February 1860 in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

References

1811 births 1860 deaths People from Fredrikstad University of Oslo alumni Norwegian mining engineers Norwegian businesspeople {{norway-business-bio-stub