Georg Sverdrup

Georg Sverdrup (25 April 1770 – 8 December 1850), born Jørgen Sverdrup, was a Norwegian statesman, most well known for being President of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly in Eidsvoll in 1814. He was a member of the Norwegian Parliament and was also responsible for the development of the first Norwegian university library.

Biography

Georg Sverdrup was born in the fishing village of Laugen in Nærøy, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. He was the uncle of brothers Harald Ulrik Sverdrup who served as a member of Norwegian Parliament and Johan Sverdrup who was the Prime Minister of Norway. Georg Sverdrup, the Norwegian-American Lutheran theologian, was his great-nephew.

Georg Sverdrup entered the University of Copenhagen during 1794 and graduated with a degree in philology in 1798. During the period 1798-1799, he studied at the University of Göttingen.

He represented Christiania at the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly during 1814 at Eidsvoll. He was the last president of the Assembly, chosen the second last day, May 16. He led the election of the king and gave the closing speech. He was later elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1818 and 1824.

Georg Sverdrup (theologian)

Georg Sverdrup (December 16, 1848 - May 3, 1907) was a Norwegian-American Lutheran theologian and an educator.

Personal life

He was born in Balestrand, Norway to Karoline Metella Suur and Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, whose brother Johan Sverdrup was Prime Minister of Norway between 1884 and 1889.

He attended the Hartvig Nissens skole in Christiania and later graduated from the University of Christiania in theology in the year of 1871. Moving to France, he was educated in the subject of Semitics at the University of Paris and befriended Sven Oftedal before traveling to Germany to perfect his knowledge in several other universities.

Sverdrup married Katherine Elisabet Heiberg in 1874, with whom he had five children. Three years after her death, Sverdrup married Katherine's sister, with whom he had two children. His son George Sverdrup later also served as President of Augsburg College.

Career

Georg Sverdrup, together with Sven Oftedal, were two scholars from prominent Haugean families in Norway who were recruited to the United States by August Weenaas, founding president of Augsburg Seminary. They both brought with them a genuinely radical view of Christian education, centered on Scripture and the simple doctrines of Christianity. In 1874, they became professors at Augsburg. Two years later, Sverdrup was appointed as the president of the Seminary.