Niels Ryberg Finsen

Background

Niels Ryberg Finsen was born on December 15, 1860, at Thorshavn in the Faroe Islands. He was the second oldest of the four children of Hannes Steingrim Finsen and Johanne Fröman.

Education

Finsen received his early education in schools of Tórshavn but in 1874 he was enrolled at the Danish boarding school Herlufsholm, where his elder brother Olaf studied too.

Young Finsen’s grades were low at Herlufsholm. His rector claimed that Niels was "a boy of good heart but low skills and energy".

In 1876, he was transferred to his father's old school, Lærði skólinn, in Reykjavík where his grades improved a lot even though the language was unknown to him.

In 1882, Finsen started his medical studies at the University of Copenhagen, and he graduated in 1890. After his graduation, he became a prosector of anatomy at the university.

In 1893, he quit the post of prosector and devoted himself completely to his scientific research.

Career

Finsen used to teach medical students in order to maintain a modest living.

In 1893 he announced that he had prevented suppuration and scarring in smallpox patients by protecting the patients from violet and ultraviolet light.

He then experimented with the therapeutic effects of highly concentrated ultraviolet light, noting that it had bactericidal effects.

In 1897 Finsen stated that ultraviolet rays had proved effective in the treatment of lupus vulgaris, a chronic progressive form of tuberculosis.

In 1898, he was appointed professor at the University of Copenhagen. It was from here that his health started deteriorating. His disease however inspired him to sunbath and thus played an important role in his research.

He started collecting observations about animals seeking the sun, and reached the conclusion that the sun had very useful effect on the blood.

In 1893, he devised the treatment of small-pox in red light. He wrote about his findings in the book ‘Om Lysets Indvirkninger paa Huden’(On the effects of light on the skin) that came out the same year.

In 1895, he developed a way of treating lupus vulgaris by furthering the same method i. e. concentration of chemical rays free from heat rays.

In 1896, he built the Finsen Institute in Copenhagen. The institute was later expanded after the sponsorship by two Danish donors, Mr. Hageman and Mr. Jörgensen and also the Danish government.

His last publication was a study of his disease and his ways of battling it: ‘En Ophobning af Salt i Organismen’ (An accumulation of salt in the organism), published in 1904.

In 1899, he was proffered knighthood and he became Knight of the Order of Dannebrog, to which the Silver Cross was added after a few years.

On September 24, 1904 Niels Ryberg Finsen died in Copenhagen.

Achievements

• In 1903 Niels Ryberg Finsen won the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his work on phototherapy. He was the first Scandinavian to win this prize and the only Faroese Nobel Laureate till date.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Om anvendelse i medicinen af koncentrerede kemiske lysstraaler FACSIMILE

    (FACSIMILE: Reproduction Om anvendelse i medicinen af konc...)

  • Die Bekampfung Des Lupus Vulgaris (German Edition)

    (This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before ...)

  • La Phototherapie ... - Primary Source Edition (French Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Connections

On December 29, 1892, Finsen married Ingeborg Balslev.

The couple had four children, of which the eldest boy died.

Spouse:

Ingeborg Balslev

She was daughter of bishop Balslev at Ribe.