Finn Lied

Finn Lied (12 April 1916 in Fana – 10 October 2014) was a Norwegian military researcher and politician for the Labour Party. He was particularly known for work on the establishment of the Norwegian state oil company Statoil. His effort to ensure that a large part of the revenues from the oil industry that explored the petroleum deposits under the Norwegian continental shelf was taxed by the Norwegian state was of great importance.

Career

Finn Lied studied electrical engineering at the Norwegian Technological Institute in Trondheim when Norway was attacked by Nazi-Germany in 1940. Lied fled to Sweden in 1941 and worked for one year with the Norwegian Military Attaché in Stockholm before he went to the United Kingdom. After an officer course, he was employed by the communications department at the Armed Forces High Command in London.

Lied spent almost his entire professional career at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), where he worked from 1946 to 1983, interrupted only by studying and ministerial posts. Lied was director of FFI from 1957 until he retired in 1983, and contributed greatly to shaping the institute. Lied was concerned with the technological importance of research for social development.