Dictionary of Scientific Biography [DSB]

Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Edited by Charles Coulston Gilliespie (Vol. I-XVI) and Frederic L. Holmes (Vol. 17-18).
Volume I-XIV: 1970-76.
Volume XV: Supplement I, 1978.
Volume 16: Index, 1980.
Volume 17-18: Supplement II, 1990.
This biographical encyclopedia in English includes all deceased people, who have made important contributions to the natural sciences and medicine. There is an article for each person including a biography on life and career and a discussion of the person's scientific achievements. In the end of the article there is a bibliography divided into primary and secondary literature. There is also, in a few cases, references to unpublished source material. All Danish scientists who have given significant contributions are included, so it is a good place to start looking for information about a person.

Remark, that volume I-XIV runs through the alphabet (A-Z), while volume XV contains the people who were skipped in the earlier volumes and general articles about science in cultures where almost nothing is known about individual scientists (Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, Japan, Maya). Volume XVI contains an index of volume I-XV, while volume 17-18 runs through the alphabet again containing people who has deceased since volume XV was published.


Poggendorff
Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch zur Geschichte der Exacten Wissenschaften enthaltend Nachweisungen über Lebensverhältnisse und Leistungen von Mathematikeren, Astronomen, Physikern, Chemikern, Mineralogen, Geologen usw. aller Völker und Zeiten.
Band I, A-L; Band II, M-Z. Gesammelt von J. C. Poggendorff. Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, Leipzig 1863.
Band III (1858 bis 1883), I. Abt. (A-L); II. Abt. (M-Z). B. W. Feddersen un A. J. von Oettingen. Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, Leipzig 1898.
Band IV (Die Jahre 1883 bis zur gegenwart umfassend), I. Abt. (A-L); II. Abt. (M-Z). Arthur von Oettingen. Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, Leipzig 1904.
J. C. Poggendorff's Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch für Mathematik, Astronomie, Physik, Chemie und verwandte Wissenschaftsgebiete.
Band V (1904 bis 1922), I. Abt. A-K; II. Abt. L-Z. Redigert von P. Weinmeister. Verlag Chemie GmbH, Leipzig/Berlin 1925-1926.
J. C. Poggendorff's Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch für Mathematik, Astronomie, Physik mit Geophysik, Chemie, Kristallographie und verwandte Wissenschaftsgebiete.
Band VI (1923 bis 1931), I.-IV. Teil. Redigert von Hans Stobbe. Verlag Chemie GmbH, Berlin 1936-1939.
J. C. Poggendorff's biographisch-literarisches Handwörterbuch der Exakten Naturwissenschaften.
Band VIIa (Berichtsjahre 1932 bis 1953), Teil 1-5. Redigert von Rudolph Zannick und Hans Sallé. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1956-1962.
Band VIIb (Berichtsjahre 1932 bis 1962), Teil 1-9. Redigeret von Hans Sallé (Teil 1-5), Lebrecht Weichsel (Teil 5-9) und Margot Köstler (Teil 8-9). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1968-1992.
This encyclopedia in German contains a short curriculum vitae and list of publication for every scientist. Only publications from the period covered by the volume are included, which means you usually have to look up several volumes to get all information on a person. Not included above are the first parts of volume VIII which have appeared.

VolumeTotal # of scientists# of new scientists
I & II8,5018,501
III & IV11,4187,649
V5,2222,114
VI10,8876,495


Dansk biografisk leksikon [DBL]
1st edition [DBL 1]:
Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Published by C. F. Bricka. Volume I-XIX. 1887-1905.
2nd edition [DBL 2]:
Dansk biografisk Leksikon. Edited by Povl Engelstof and Svend Dahl. Volume I-XXVII. J. H. Schultz Forlag, København 1933-44.
3th edition [DBL 3]:
Dansk biografisk leksikon. Redigeret af Sv. Cedergreen Bech. Volume 1-16. Gyldendal, København 1979-84.
Handbook edition [DBL H]:
Dansk biografisk Haandleksikon. Edited by Svend Dahl and Povl Engelstoft. Volume I-III. Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag, Kjøbenhavn og Kristiania 1920-26.
This biographical encyclopedia in Danish covers all Danes of significance in Danish history. Many scientists are included. For each person there is a short biography describing life and career. Scientists' scientific contributions are only described very briefly. There may be references to archival material, newspaper articles and other literature, and perhaps pictures.

When using the encyclopedia it is good to know that the three editions often overlap, i.e. a person can be included in more than one edition. The articles in the different editions may be different giving a different view on the person. So it is recommended to check all editions that include the person. Volume 16 in the 3rd edition contains a very useful index, which also covers the other editions.

Den Store Danske Encyklopædi
Den Store Danske Encyklopædi. Volume 1-. Danmarks Nationalleksikon A/S (Gyldendal), København 1994-.
It is general encyclopedia in Danish which includes many Danish scientists. However, the articles are generally short and there is less information than in Dansk biografisk leksikon, but in some cases it is more updated because it is younger. So it is mainly useful as a supplement for the Dansk biografisk leksicon.


Kraks Blå Bog
Kraks Blå Bog. (Register 1910-1998). Register over 17.626 personer, der er biograferet i Kraks Blå Bog 1910-1998. Kraks Forlag AS, Virum 1999.
The Danish Who's Who is Kraks Blå Bog and it was started in 1910. A volume has appeared every year since describing the most "important" Danes that year with short biographies. The index volume above lists all people (17,626) included in a Krak volume with their dates of birth and death, and the last Krak volume they were included in.


Magisterstaten
1st edition:
Filolog- og Magister-Stat. Edited by C. H. Sthyr and H. F. Øllgaard. V. Pios Boghandel, Kjøbenhavn 1907.
2nd edition:
Magister-Stat. Fortegnelse over nulevende Candidati Philologiae, Candidati Magisterii, Magistri Artium og Magistri Scientiarum. Edited by Cai Hegermann-Lindencrone and C. L. Henrichsen. Fr. Lumbyes Bogtrykkeri, Kolding 1926. A supplement was published in 1933.
3rd edition:
Magister-Stat. Biografiske Oplysninger om nulevende Candidati Magisterii 1884 II - 1944 I, Magistri Artium og Magistri Scientiarum Febr. 1883 - Jan. 1944. Edited by C. L. Henrichsen, E. Bjørn Nielsen and J. Øbro Ravn. Almindelig Dansk Cand. Mag. Organisation, København 1945.
4th edition:
Magister-stat 1951. Edited by Albert Fabritius, Erik Krapper and Erik Strøby. Dansk Magisterforening, København 1953.
5th edition:
Magister-stat 1962. Edited by Tage Kaarsted and Alfred Larsen. Dansk Magisterforening and Gymnasieskolernes Lærerforening, København 1963.
6th edition:
Magister-staten 1967. Edited by Hans Hald Jensen and Tage Kaarsted. 6th edition. Published by Magisterforbundet, København 1968.
Supplements of the 6th edition:
Tillæg I & II
Tillæg IIIA & IIIB (incl. summer exams 1969)
Tillæg IV, 1970 (incl. winter exams 1969/70)
Tillæg V, 1971 (incl. winter exams 1970/71)
Tillæg VI, 1972 (incl. winter exams 1971/72)
Tillæg VII, 1973 (incl. winter exams 1972/73)
Tillæg VIII, 1974 (incl. winter exams 1973/74)
The works are in Danish and they include a short curriculum vitae of all magistre (including date of birth, parents, possible spouse, career with degrees, prices, positions etc.) and an excerpt of their publication. A magister is the title obtained when passing a final university exam, so it corresponds approximately to the US Master degree.

The first edition contains 90 people with the degree "cand. phil." obtained in the period 1849-1887, 433 people with the degree "cand. mag." obtained since 1883 and 274 people with the degree "mag. art." or "mag. scient." Deceased people are omitted. The people are chronological arranged and an alphabetical sorted index is included.

The second edition contains 1247 biographies of people who had taken their degree before or at the winter term 1925-26. They are arranged alphabetical with a chronological index. The supplement from 1933 contains another 782 biographies.

The third edition is not a supplement to the earlier edition. It contains every living and deceased person with the degree "cand. mag." from the period 1884.II-1944.I or the degree "mag. art." or "mag. scient." from the period February 1883 - January 1944. Total number of biographies is 2738. A supplement is included containing people who had taken the degree "cand. mag." during 1944.II-1945.II or "mag. art." or "mag. scient." during February 1944 - June 1945.

The 4th, 5th and 6th edition include all living people with the title "magister" and all magistre who had died since the last edition. Because of that most information about a person is to be found in the first edition published after the person's death and this will also be the last edition which includes the person. The 4th edition contains 3414 biographies, the 5th edition 4868 and the 6th edition 5707. The 5th edition also contain 85 doctores philosophiae from Danish universities who have their university degree from a foreign university.

All editions, except the supplement from 1933, may be found in the Danish National Archives' reading room.


Ingeniørstaten

1st edition:
Statistiske Oplysninger angaaende den polytekniske Læreanstalts Kandidater samt Fortegnelse over dens Lærere 1829-90. Udarbejdet af J. J. Voigt. J. H. Schultz, Kjøbenhavn 1890.
2nd edition:
1903.
3rd edition:
Biografiske Oplysninger angaaende den polytekniske Læreanstalts Kandidater 1829-1929. Edited by R. Jespersen. København 1930.
4th edition:
Dansk Civilingeniørstat 1942. Biografiske oplysninger om Polytekniske Kandidater 1829-1941 med et tillæg indeholdende biografiske oplysninger om 226 af Dansk Ingeniørforenings Medlemmer, der ikke er udgaaet fra Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt. Redigeret af Aage Hannover. C. A. Reitzels Forlag, København 1942.
5th edition:
Dansk Civilingeniørstat 1955. Biografiske oplysninger om Polytekniske Kandidater 1829-1954 med et tillæg indeholdende biografiske oplysninger om 287 af Dansk Ingeniørforenings Medlemmer, der ikke er udgaaet fra Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt. Redigeret af Aage Hannover. C. A. Reitzels Forlag, København 1956.
6th edition:
Dansk Civil- og Akademiingeniørstat 1971. Biografiske oplysninger om kandidater fra Danmarks Tekniske Højskole og Danmarks Ingeniørakademi (1829-1968) samt 451 medlemmer af Dansk Ingeniørforening, der ikke er udgået fra de nævnte læreanstalter. Udgivet af Dansk Ingeniørforening og Krak, København 1971.
7th edition:
Danske civil- og akademiingeniører 1992. Redigeret af Jan Ebert. Dansk Ingeniørforening 1992.
This biographical handbook contains short curriculum vitaes of Danish engineers. The curriculum vitaes vary a lot in size and content. The 1st edition contains 495 biographies, the 2nd edition 971 biographies, the 3rd edition 3879 biographies of engineers from Den polytekniske Læreanstalt (the Polytechnic) and 204 other members of Dansk Ingeniørforening (The society of Danish engineers) DIF. The 4th edition contains 5525 engineers from the Polytechnic and 226 other members of DIF, but only few information on people who had deceased since the 3rd edition. The 5th edition contains biographies of 9256 engineers from the Polytechnic, 287 others and 313 deceased members of DIF who were not included in the 4th edition. The 6th edition contains 14,842 biographies and the 7th edition 23,904. The 7th edition is not complete regarding all engineers, but all members of DIF in 1992 and all members who had deceased since 1970 are included.

The 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th edition may be found at the reading room at the Danish National Archives; the 7th edition at the reading room at the DNLB.


Slottved: Lærere ved Københavns Universitet
Ejvind Slottved:
Lærestole og lærere ved Københavns Universitet 1537-1977 [Chairs and teachers at the University of Copenhagen 1537-1977]. Samfundet for dansk Genealogi og Personalhistorie, København 1978.

The book is in Danish. It contains a survey of all chairs at the University of Copenhagen in the period 1537-1977. They are first sorted according to the faculties and then chronological after date of founding. Everybody who has had a chair is listed with information about dates of appointment and resignation and references to where these information had been found. In the end of the book there is an index of names which includes dates of birth and death, which chairs the person has had and a possible reference to the person's "Nachlass". The work is useful to find information about the career of a person or perhaps information about the person's "Nachlass". The introduction of the book describes the different types of chairs which have existed during the period 1537-1977 at the University of Copenhagen.


Nielsen: Matematiken i Danmark

Niels Nielsen:
Matematiken i Danmark 1528-1800. Bidrag til en bibliografisk-historisk Oversigt. Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag, København & Kristiania 1912. 336 pp.

Matematiken i Danmark 1801-1908. Bidrag til en bibliografisk-historisk Oversigt. Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag, København & Kristiania 1910. 194 pp.

 The work is in Danish and the title translated into English is Mathematics in Denmark 1528-1800 [1801-1908]. Contributions to a bibliographic historic survey. The work is a bibliographic survey of everybody who has contributed to mathematics in Denmark. The two volumes consist of alphabetical lists of all people in Denmark who has published something about a mathematical subject. Because mathematics is understood very broad many people from the neighbouring subjects astronomy and physics are included. For each person there is a very short curriculum vitae. Generally the information is reliable even though there are some printing errors.

The last third of the first volume gives a survey of institutions of higher education in Denmark before 1800, while the last third in the second volume contains a survey of institutions of relevance for mathematics in the 19th century.


Prominent Danish Scientists

 Prominent Danish Scientists through the Ages with Facsimiles from their Works. Edited by V. Meisen. Levin & Munksgaard Publishers, Copenhagen 1932.

This book in English describes very shortly a number of prominent Danish scientists and presents an excerpt from their works. There is only few details, but it is one of the few works in English on Danish scientists.


Studenterårbøger

Students from 1905:
Studenterne MCMV. Personalhistoriske Oplysninger. Samlede af Arild Falk-Jensen. Det Berlingske Bogtrykkeri A/S, København 1930.
Students from 1911:
Studenterne 1911.. Redaktør Kristian Müller. Nyt Nordisk Forlag, Arnold Busck, Kjøbenhavn 1936.
Starting in 1904 books have been published every year with biographical notes on the students 25 years ago, i.e. the books were on the 25th student anniversary. Students mean here everybody who completed the gymnasium (secondary school). The 1904-edition describes the students from 1879. In 1905 there was 405 students and in 1911 there was 786 students.

Last updated: 2003.07.12