- Sten Lindroth
Sten Hjalmar Lindroth (
28 December 1914 –1 September 1980 ) was a Swedish historian of learning and science.Lindroth was born in the university town of
Lund in Southern Sweden, but grew up and went to school inGothenburg after his fatherHjalmar Lindroth had been appointed to the Chair of Nordic languages atGothenburg University . After finishing school in Gothenburg at Göteborgs högre latinläroverk, he matriculated atUppsala University in 1933 and eventually became a student ofJohan Nordström , holder of the Emilia and Gustaf Carlberg Chair of theHistory of ideas and learning , the first of its kind at Uppsala. Lindroth eventually completed a monumental, 500-page dissertation on the history ofparacelsianism in Sweden until the middle of the 17th century, defended in 1943. During his student years he was also active in theJuvenalorden and the liberal student society Verdandi, for he which he also served as president.He spent the next decade on a history of the mining and copper production at
Stora Kopparberget and a biography of the physicist and inventorChristopher Polhem , and several shorter publications on various scientific-historical topics. In 1957 he succeeded Nordström as Carlberg Professor. His later publications included a book on the early history of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1967), a history of Swedish learning from the Middle Ages until the Gustavian period (the fourth and last volume was left unfinished but completed and edited by his former studentGunnar Eriksson ) and an overview of the history of Uppsala University (1976), published on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the university.Sten Lindroth was elected a Member of the
Swedish Academy in 1968.References
*Gunnar Eriksson, "Lindroth, Sten Hjalmar", "
Svenskt biografiskt lexikon ", vol. 23, p. 581-587.
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