Thorstein Hiortdahl

Who was Thorstein Hiortdahl?

Thorstein Hallager Hiortdahl was a Norwegian chemist, mineralogist and politician.

He was born in Bergen as a son of merchant Samuel Baar Hiortdahl and Augusta Jacobine Hallager. In September 1869 he married Anna Karine Nilson Hals.

He finished his secondary education in 1857 at Bergen Cathedral School, and enrolled in medicine studies at the University of Christiania. In 1861 he defected, fascinated by the field of chemistry. He instead studied chemistry, mineralogy og crystallography; from 1864 to 1865 in Paris. He was behind the term partial isomorphy, and the mineral hiortdahlite was named after him.

He was a research fellow from 1866 and an associate professor from 1868 to 1872. From 1872 to 1918 he was a professor; during this period, from 1887 to 1892 he was the dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. He was succeeded by Eyvind Bødtker in the professor chair. He wrote several books, and his textbooks were reprinted several times. He also contributed to the biographical dictionary Norsk biografisk leksikon.

Hiortdahl was a co-founder of the Norwegian Chemical Society in 1893, and chaired the society from 1906 to 1912.