Harald K. Schjelderup

Who was Harald K. Schjelderup?

Harald Krabbe Schjelderup was a Norwegian physicist, philosopher and psychologist. He worked with all three subjects on university level, but is best remembered as Norway's first professor of psychology.

He was born in Dypvåg as a son of bishop Kristian Schjelderup and Hendy Hassel. He was a brother of Kristian Schjelderup, Jr, he too a bishop. He finished his secondary education at Kristiansand Cathedral School in 1912, and graduated in physics from the Royal Frederick University. Here he also worked as research assistant of Lars Vegard. He also worked with anatomy, microscopy and philosophy. He released the paper Hovedlinjer i filosofiens utvikling fra midten av det 19. århundre til nutiden in 1916, and was hired as a research fellow in philosophy in 1917. In line with the tendency of the day, his philosophy was positivist and crossed into psychology. He studied experimental psychology in Copenhagen and Göttingen, and took the dr.philos. degree in 1919 with the thesis Til sansefornæmmelsernes psykofysiologi. He then studied in Berlin and Freiburg, and was appointed as a professor in 1922.