Georg Sverdrup | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byChristian Horneman, 1813 | |
| Member of theStorting | |
| In office 1818–1820 | |
| Constituency | Christiania |
| In office 1824–1826 | |
| Constituency | Christiania |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jørgen Sverdrup (1770-04-25)25 April 1770 Laugen, Trøndelag,Denmark–Norway |
| Died | 8 December 1850(1850-12-08) (aged 80) Oslo, Norway,Sweden–Norway |
| Alma mater | University of Copenhagen |
| Occupation | Philologist, educator, librarian |
Georg Sverdrup (bornJørgen Sverdrup; 25 April 1770 – 8 December 1850) was a Norwegian statesman, best known as one of the presidents of theNorwegian Constituent Assembly atEidsvoll Manor in 1814. He was a member of theNorwegian Parliament and was also responsible for the development of the first Norwegianuniversity library.[1]
Georg Sverdrup was born in the fishing village ofLaugen in theprestegjeld ofNærøy inNord-Trøndelag county, Norway. He was the uncle of brothersHarald Ulrik Sverdrup, who served as a member of Norwegian Parliament, andJohan Sverdrup, who was the Prime Minister of Norway.Georg Sverdrup, the Norwegian-American Lutheran theologian, was hisgreat-nephew.[2]
Georg Sverdrup entered theUniversity of Copenhagen during 1794 and graduated with a degree inphilology in 1798. During the period 1798–1799, he studied at theUniversity of Göttingen.[3]
He representedChristiania at theNorwegian Constitutional Assembly during 1814 atEidsvoll Manor. He was the last president of the Assembly, chosen the second last day, 16 May. He led the election of the king and gave the closing speech. During the drafting of the Norwegian constitution, Sverdrup was one of the principle authors of theJew clause, which prohibitedJews from entering Norway.[4] He was later elected to theNorwegian Parliament in 1817 and 1823.[5][6]
Sverdrup became professor of Greek at the University of Copenhagen in 1805. Sverdrup was librarian of theuniversity library from 1813 to 1845. TheUniversity of Oslo was established in 1811 under the name Royal Frederick University, but due to theNapoleonic War it was not until 1815 that Sverdrup could receive the 50,000 volumes, then inCopenhagen, intended for the newuniversity library. It took another year for the government to provide adequate localities for the collection, and not until 1828 was the library finally completed, with a total of 90,000 volumes.[7][8]
Georg Sverdrup is buried atVår Frelsers gravlund. Sverdrups gate in the district ofGrünerløkka in Oslo was named in his honor. The new university library atBlindern (Georg Sverdrups hus – Universitetsbibliotekets), finished in 1999, is named after Georg Sverdrup.[9] It houses more than 2,000,000 books.[citation needed]
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