Physician and scientist, born in the Faroe Is, Denmark. He studied and taught anatomy at the University of Copenhagen. He discovered the curative power of light, founded phototherapy, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1903.
Niels Ryberg Finsen (December 15, 1860 – September 24, 1904) was a Faroese/Danish physician and scientist.
The early years
Niels Finsen was born in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, as the 2nd oldest of four children of Hannes Steingrim Finsen and Johanne Fröman. In 1864 when Niels was four years old his mother died, and his father remarried his mother's cousin Birgitte Kirstine Formann, with whom he had six children. Niels Finsen got his early education in Tórshavn, but was in 1874 sent to the Danish Boarding school Herlufsholm, where his older brother Olaf Finsen also was a student. Niels had, unlike Olaf, a very difficult stay at Herlufsholm culminating with a statement from the Principal which claimed Finsen to be "a boy of good heart but low skills and energy". A statement that stands in sharp contrast with the later work and research of Niels Finsen.
Studies in medicine
In 1882, Niels Finsen moved to Copenhagen to study medicine at the University of Copenhagen, from which he graduated in 1890. In 1898 Finsen was given a professorship and in 1899 he became a Knight of the Order of Dannebrog.
The Finsen Institute was founded in 1896, with Niels Finsen as its director.
In 1889, Niels Finsen became enganged to Ingeborg Balslev (1868–1963) and they where married on the 29 December 1892.
Illness and death
From the mid 1880s and onward, Niels Finsen's health began to fail.
Memory
Niels Finsens discovery of sunlight as a means to cure certain types of small pox and tuberculosis was surpassed with the advent of antibiotics and his scientific work is therefore largely forgotten today.
There is a memorial to Niels Finsen in Tórshavn, and one of the city's main streets bears his name.
User Comments Add a comment…