Niels Ryberg Finsen

Niels Ryberg Finsen (15 December 1860 – 24 September 1904) was a physician and scientist. In 1903, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology "in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science."

Biography

Niels Finsen was born in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, as the second-oldest of four children. His father was Hannes Finsen, who belonged to an Icelandic family with traditions reaching back to the 10th century, and his mother was Johanne Formann from Falster, Denmark.

The family moved to Tórshavn from Iceland in 1858 when his father was given the position of Landfoged. When Niels was four years old his mother died, and his father married her cousin Birgitte Kirstine Formann, with whom he had six children. In 1871 his father was made Amtmand of the Faroe Islands. His father was a member of the Faroese parliament for 12 years, and his older brother Olaf Finsen similarly became a member of parliament, for five years, as well as the first mayor of the capital, Tórshavn.

Finsen got his early education in Tórshavn, but in 1874 was sent to the Danish boarding school Herlufsholm, where his older brother Olaf was also a student. Unlike Olaf, Niels had a difficult stay at Herlufsholm, culminating with a statement from the principal which claimed Niels was "a boy of good heart but low skills and energy". As a consequence of his low grades and difficulties with the Danish language, he was sent to Iceland in 1876 to enroll in his father's old school, Lærði skólinn, in Reykjavík.