100 Notable alumni of
University of Copenhagen
Updated:
The University of Copenhagen is 115th in the world, 42nd in Europe, and 1st in Denmark by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Copenhagen sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 5 individuals affiliated with the University of Copenhagen won Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Physiology or Medicine.
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Hans Christian Andersen
- Occupations
- travelerwriterchildren's writerpoetnovelist
- Biography
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Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
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Niels Bochr
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- 1903-1911 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosopher of sciencechemistphysicistassociation football player
- Biography
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Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.
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Søren Kierkegaard
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in theology
- Occupations
- theologianwriterliterary criticpoetphilosopher
- Biography
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Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on organized religion, Christianity, morality, ethics, psychology, and the philosophy of religion, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony, and parables. Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a "single individual", giving priority to concrete human reality over abstract thinking and highlighting the importance of personal choice and commitment. He was against literary critics who defined idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, and thought that Swedenborg, Hegel, Fichte, Schelling, Schlegel, and Hans Christian Andersen were all "understood" far too quickly by "scholars."
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Tycho Brahe
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied in 1559-1562
- Occupations
- astronomerastrologerwriterpoetalchemist
- Biography
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Tycho Brahe, generally called Tycho for short, was a Danish astronomer of the Renaissance, known for his comprehensive and unprecedentedly accurate astronomical observations. He was known during his lifetime as an astronomer, astrologer, and alchemist. He was the last major astronomer before the invention of the telescope.
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Lars Mikkelsen
- Occupations
- film actormime artisttelevision actorstreet artistjuggler
- Biography
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Lars Dittmann Mikkelsen is a Danish actor. He is best known for his roles as Copenhagen mayoral election candidate Troels Hartmann in the Danish police procedural The Killing, the character Charles Augustus Magnussen in the third series of the BBC programme Sherlock, fictional Russian president Viktor Petrov in the American political thriller TV series House of Cards, the mage Stregobor on the Netflix series The Witcher, and Grand Admiral Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels and Ahsoka. In 2011, he won the Reumert Prize of Honour for his contributions to Danish theatre.
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Alex Høgh Andersen
- Occupations
- voice actormodelphotographeractor
- Biography
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Alex Høgh Andersen is a Danish actor. He is mostly known for the role of Ivar the Boneless in the historical drama television series Vikings (2016–2020).
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Mette Frederiksen
- Occupations
- politiciantrade unionist
- Biography
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Mette Frederiksen is a Danish politician who has served as prime minister of Denmark since June 2019, and leader of the Social Democrats since June 2015. The second woman to hold either office, she is also the youngest prime minister in Danish history, the first to be born after Margrethe II's accession to the throne, and the first to serve under Frederik X.
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Hans Christian Ørsted
- Occupations
- university teacherchemistphysicistinventorengineer
- Biography
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Hans Christian Ørsted was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, which was the first connection found between electricity and magnetism. Oersted's law and the oersted unit (Oe) are named after him.
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Frederik IX of Denmark
- Occupations
- musicianmonarch
- Biography
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Frederik IX was King of Denmark from 1947 to 1972.
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Helle Thorning-Schmidt
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- 1987-1994 graduated with Danish Master of Science in Political Science (cand.scient.pol)
- Occupations
- international forum participantpolitician
- Biography
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Helle Thorning-Schmidt is a Danish retired politician who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 to 2015, and Leader of the Social Democrats from 2005 to 2015. She is the first woman to have held each post. Following defeat in 2015, she announced that she would step down as both Danish Prime Minister and Social Democratic party leader. Ending her political career in April 2016, she was the chief executive of the NGO Save the Children until June 2019.
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Lars Løkke Rasmussen
- Occupations
- politicianinternational forum participantjurist
- Biography
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Lars Løkke Rasmussen is a Danish politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022. He previously served as the 25th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was the leader of the liberal Venstre party from 2009 to 2019.
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Margrethe Vestager
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied in 1986-1993
- Occupations
- politicianpoet
- Biography
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Margrethe Vestager is a Danish politician currently serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age since December 2019 and European Commissioner for Competition since 2014. Vestager is a member of the Danish Social Liberal Party, and of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE) on the European level.
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Peter Freuchen
- Occupations
- writerexploreractoranthropologistjournalist
- Biography
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Lorenz Peter Elfred Freuchen was a Danish explorer, author, journalist and anthropologist. He is notable for his role in Arctic exploration, namely the Thule Expeditions.
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Hans Christian Gram
- Occupations
- bacteriologistuniversity teacherpharmacologistbotanist
- Biography
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Hans Christian Joachim Gram was a Danish bacteriologist noted for his development of the Gram stain, still a standard technique to classify bacteria and make them more visible under a microscope.
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Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu
- Occupations
- inventorengineerteacher
- Biography
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Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu was a Romanian engineer who was one of the first women to obtain a degree in engineering. She was born in the Romanian town of Galați but qualified in Berlin. During World War I she managed a hospital in Romania.
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Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is an Icelandic politician who served as the fourth president of Iceland from 1980 to 1996. Vigdís is the first woman in the world to be democratically elected as president. Having served as president of Iceland for 16 years, she is the longest-serving elected female head of state in history. Vigdís is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and a member of the Club of Madrid.
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Bjørn Lomborg
- Occupations
- university teachereconomistwriterenvironmentalistecologist
- Biography
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Bjørn Lomborg is a Danish author and the president of the think tank Copenhagen Consensus Center. He is the former director of the Danish government's Environmental Assessment Institute (EAI) in Copenhagen. He became internationally known for his best-selling book The Skeptical Environmentalist (2001).
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Aage Bohr
- Occupations
- nuclear physicistphysicistpedagogue
- Biography
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Aage Niels Bohr was a Danish nuclear physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1975 with Ben Roy Mottelson and James Rainwater "for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection". His father was Niels Bohr.
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Danica Curcic
- Occupations
- stage actorvoice actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Danica Curcic is a Serbian-Danish actress.
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Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen
- Occupations
- chemist
- Biography
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Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen was a Danish chemist, known for the introduction of the concept of pH, a scale for measuring acidity and alkalinity.
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Ole Rømer
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied in 1662
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacherpolice officerphysicistastronomer
- Biography
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Ole Christensen Rømer was a Danish astronomer who, in 1676, made the first measurement of the speed of light and discovery that light travels at a finite speed. Rømer also invented the modern thermometer showing the temperature between two fixed points, namely the points at which water respectively boils and freezes.
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Ludvig Holberg
- Occupations
- essayistscreenwriterpoetplaywrightautobiographer
- Biography
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Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano–Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, the Enlightenment and the Baroque. Holberg is considered the founder of modern Danish and Norwegian literature. He was also a prominent Neo-Latin author, known across Europe for his writing. He is best known for the comedies he wrote in 1722–1723 for the Lille Grønnegade Theatre in Copenhagen. Holberg's works about natural and common law were widely read by many Danish law students over two hundred years, from 1736 to 1936.
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Nicolaus Steno
- Occupations
- Catholic priestanatomistCatholic bishopphysicianpaleontologist
- Biography
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Niels Steensen; 1 January 1638 – 25 November 1686 [NS: 11 January 1638 – 5 December 1686]) was a Danish scientist, a pioneer in both anatomy and geology who became a Catholic bishop in his later years.
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Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig
- Occupations
- poetphilosopherphilologisthistorianhymnwriter
- Biography
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Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig, most often referred to as N. F. S. Grundtvig, was a Danish pastor, author, poet, philosopher, historian, teacher and politician. He was one of the most influential people in Danish history, as his philosophy gave rise to a new form of nationalism in the last half of the 19th century. It was steeped in the national literature and supported by deep spirituality.
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Jens Otto Krag
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticianeconomist
- Biography
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Jens Otto Krag was a Danish politician who served as prime minister of Denmark from 1962 to 1968 and from 1971 to 1972, and as leader of the Social Democrats from 1962 to 1972. He was president of the Nordic Council in 1971.
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Poul Schlüter
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Poul Holmskov Schlüter was a Danish politician who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1982 to 1993. He was the first (and to date, only) member of the Conservative People's Party to become Prime Minister, as well as the first conservative to hold the office since 1901. Schlüter was a member of the Folketing (Danish parliament) for the Conservative People's Party from 1964 to 1994. He was also Chairman of the Conservative People's Party from 1974 to 1977 and from 1981 to 1993.
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Inge Lehmann
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- In 1968 graduated with Cand.mag.
- Occupations
- naturalistseismologistgeophysicistsurveyorgeologist
- Biography
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Inge Lehmann was a Danish seismologist and geophysicist who is known for her discovery in 1936 of the solid inner core that exists within the molten outer core of the Earth. The seismic discontinuity in the speed of seismic waves at depths between 190 and 250 km is named the Lehmann discontinuity after her. Lehmann is considered to be a pioneer among women and scientists in seismology research.
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Georg Brandes
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied aesthetics
- Occupations
- university teacherautobiographerwriterphilosopherliterary critic
- Biography
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Georg Morris Cohen Brandes was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind the "Modern Breakthrough" of Scandinavian culture. At the age of 30, Brandes formulated the principles of a new realism and naturalism, condemning hyper-aesthetic writing and also fantasy in literature. His literary goals were shared by some other authors, among them the Norwegian "realist" playwright Henrik Ibsen.
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Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
- Occupations
- economistpolitician
- Biography
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Poul Oluf Nyrup Rasmussen is a retired Danish politician. Rasmussen was Prime Minister of Denmark from 25 January 1993 to 27 November 2001 and President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) from 2004 to 2011. He was the leader of the governing Social Democrats from 1992 to 2002. He was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009.
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Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- 1962-1969 graduated with candidate in economics
- Occupations
- journalistautobiographerpoliticiandiplomat
- Biography
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Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was a Danish politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark in the Conservative-led Poul Schlüter Administration from 1982 to 1993. He was leader of the Danish Liberal Party Venstre from 1984 to 1998 and President of the European Liberals 1995–2000.
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Hans Egede
- Occupations
- pastormissionarylinguistpriestexplorer
- Biography
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Hans Poulsen Egede was a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a successful mission among the Inuit and is credited with revitalizing Dano-Norwegian interest in the island after contact had been broken for about 300 years. He founded Greenland's capital Godthåb, now known as Nuuk.
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Nella Larsen
- Occupations
- novelistwriterlibrariannurse
- Biography
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Nellallitea "Nella" Larsen was an American novelist. Working as a nurse and a librarian, she published two novels, Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929), and a few short stories. Though her literary output was scant, she earned recognition by her contemporaries.
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Piet Hein
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied in 1924
- Occupations
- writerpoetphysicistinventormathematician
- Biography
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Piet Hein was a Danish polymath (mathematician, inventor, designer, writer and poet), often writing under the Old Norse pseudonym Kumbel, meaning "tombstone". His short poems, known as gruks or grooks (Danish: gruk), first started to appear in the daily newspaper Politiken shortly after the German occupation of Denmark in April 1940 under the pseudonym "Kumbel Kumbell". He also invented the Soma cube and the board game Hex.
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Peter Høeg
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Peter Høeg is a Danish writer of fiction. He is best known for his novel Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (1992).
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Ole Nydahl
- Occupations
- yogiwriterteacher
- Biography
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Ole Nydahl, also known as Lama Ole, is a lama providing Mahamudra teachings in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Since the early 1970s, Nydahl has toured the world giving lectures and meditation courses. With his wife, Hannah Nydahl (1946-2007), he founded Diamond Way Buddhism, a worldwide Karma Kagyu Buddhist organization with over 600 centers for lay practitioners.
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Johannes V. Jensen
- Occupations
- translator-interpreterwritercolumnistcorrespondentpoet
- Biography
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Johannes Vilhelm Jensen was a Danish author, known as one of the great Danish writers of the first half of 20th century. He was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the rare strength and fertility of his poetic imagination with which is combined an intellectual curiosity of wide scope and a bold, freshly creative style". One of his sisters, Thit Jensen, was also a well-known writer and a very vocal, and occasionally controversial, early feminist.
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Ida Auken
- Occupations
- priestinternational forum participantpoliticiantheologian
- Biography
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Ida Margrete Meier Auken is a Danish politician and member of the Folketing for the Social Democrats political party. She has been a member of parliament since 2007. She was Minister for the Environment of Denmark from 2011 to 2014. Until 2014 she was a member of the Socialist People's Party, after which she moved to the Danish Social Liberal Party. In 2021, she switched to the Social Democrats.
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Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted
- Occupations
- chemistuniversity teacherphysicist
- Biography
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Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted was a Danish physical chemist, who developed the Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory simultaneously with and independently of Martin Lowry.
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Ove Arup
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied in 1913
- Occupations
- structural engineerengineerarchitectentrepreneur
- Biography
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Sir Ove Nyquist Arup, CBE, MICE, MIStructE, FCIOB was an English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited, a multinational corporation that offers engineering, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for building systems. Ove Arup is considered to be among the foremost architectural structural engineers of his time.
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Morten Messerschmidt
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- 2000-2009 graduated with jurist
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Morten Messerschmidt is a Danish politician and since 2022 leader of the Danish People's Party. He was an elected Member of the Folketing at the 2019 Danish general election having previously served from 2005 to 2009. At the 2014 European Parliament election, he was elected a Member of the European Parliament for Denmark with 465,758; the highest number of personal votes ever cast at a Danish election.
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Ester Boserup
- Occupations
- economistwriter
- Biography
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Ester Boserup was a Danish economist. She studied economic and agricultural development, worked at the United Nations as well as other international organizations, and wrote seminal books on agrarian change and the role of women in development.
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Kaj Munk
- Occupations
- theologianscreenwriterpoetpriestplaywright
- Biography
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Kaj Harald Leininger Munk was a Danish playwright and Lutheran pastor, known for his cultural engagement and his martyrdom during the Occupation of Denmark of World War II. He is commemorated as a martyr in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on 14 August, alongside Maximilian Kolbe.
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Mogens Lykketoft
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomat
- Biography
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Mogens Lykketoft is a Danish politician who served as Leader of the Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne) from 2002 to 2005.
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Niels Ryberg Finsen
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicianscientist
- Biography
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Niels Ryberg Finsen 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."
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Jens Peter Jacobsen
- Occupations
- writernovelistpoetbotanisttranslator
- Biography
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Jens Peter Jacobsen was a Danish novelist, poet, and scientist, in Denmark often just written as "J. P. Jacobsen". He began the naturalist movement in Danish literature and was a part of the Modern Breakthrough.
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Gøsta Esping-Andersen
- Occupations
- economistuniversity teachersociologistpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Gøsta Esping-Andersen is a Danish sociologist whose primary focus has been on the welfare state and its place in capitalist economies. Jacob Hacker describes him as the "dean of welfare state scholars." Over the past decade his research has moved towards family demographic issues. A synthesis of his work was published as Families in the 21st Century (Stockholm, SNS, 2016).
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Naser Khader
- Occupations
- writerpoliticianradio personalityinterpreterresearcher
- Biography
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Naser Khader is a Syrian-Danish politician and member of the Folketing 2001–2011 and again 2015–2022. Until 2021 he was a member of the Conservative People's Party.
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Adam Oehlenschläger
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied in 1800
- Occupations
- university teacherlibrettistautobiographerplaywrightwriter
- Biography
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Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature. He wrote the lyrics to the song Der er et yndigt land, which is one of the national anthems of Denmark.
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Otto Jespersen
- Occupations
- scholar of Englishwriterautobiographerpedagogueuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Jens Otto Harry Jespersen was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. Steven Mithen described him as "one of the greatest language scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."
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Pernille Skipper
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- 2004-2011 graduated with jurist
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Pernille Skipper is a former Danish politician. She was a member of the Folketing from 2011 to 2022, and was political spokesperson for the Red–Green Alliance from 2016 to 2021, succeeding Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen. In 2021 she was replaced by Mai Villadsen.
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Eske Willerslev
- Occupations
- biologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Eske Willerslev is a Danish evolutionary geneticist notable for his pioneering work in molecular anthropology, palaeontology, and ecology. He currently holds the Prince Philip Professorship in Ecology and Evolution at University of Cambridge, UK and the Lundbeck Foundation Professorship in Evolution at Copenhagen University, Denmark. He is director of the Centre of Excellence in GeoGenetics, a research associate at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and a professorial fellow at St John's College, Cambridge. Willerslev is a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences (US) and holds the Order of the Dannebrog issued by her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in 2017.
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Søren Pind
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Søren Pind is a Danish lawyer and former politician. He served as Danish Minister of Justice from 2015 to 2016, and as Minister of Science, Technology, Information and Higher Education from 2016 to May 2018, whereupon he retired from politics.
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Peter Naur
- Occupations
- astronomercomputer scientistuniversity teacherprogrammer
- Biography
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Peter Naur was a Danish computer science pioneer and 2005 Turing award winner. He is best remembered as a contributor, with John Backus, to the Backus–Naur form (BNF) notation used in describing the syntax for most programming languages. He also contributed to creating the language ALGOL 60.
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Sveinn Björnsson
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied law
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Sveinn Björnsson was the first president of Iceland (1944–1952).
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Valdemar Poulsen
- Occupations
- technicianphysicistengineer
- Biography
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Valdemar Poulsen was a Danish engineer who developed a magnetic wire recorder called the telegraphone in 1898. He also made significant contributions to early radio technology, including the first continuous wave radio transmitter, the Poulsen arc, which was used for a majority of the earliest audio radio transmissions, before being supplanted by the development of vacuum-tube transmitters.
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Harald Bohr
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied in 1904-1910
- Occupations
- mathematicianassociation football playeruniversity teacherpedagogue
- Biography
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Harald August Bohr was a Danish mathematician and footballer. After receiving his doctorate in 1910, Bohr became an eminent mathematician, founding the field of almost periodic functions. His brother was the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr. He was on the Denmark national team for the 1908 Summer Olympics, where he won a silver medal.
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Ritt Bjerregaard
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ritt Bjerregaard was a Danish politician who was a member of the Danish Social Democrats, and was Lord Mayor of Copenhagen from 1 January 2006 to 2010.
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Petter Dass
- Occupations
- priestwriterpoet
- Biography
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Petter Pettersen Dass was a Lutheran priest and the foremost Norwegian poet of his generation, writing both baroque hymns and topographical poetry.
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Kristina Háfoss
- Occupations
- politicianjuristeconomist
- Biography
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Kristina Háfoss is a Faroese-Danish economist, lawyer, politician (Tjóðveldi) and former national swimmer for the Faroe Islands. She was Minister of Finance of the Faroe Islands from 2015–2019. She was elected for the Løgting again in 2019, but took leave from 1 February 2021 when she started in her new job as the Secretary-General of the Nordic Council.
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Agner Krarup Erlang
- Occupations
- statisticianengineermathematician
- Biography
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Agner Krarup Erlang was a Danish mathematician, statistician and engineer, who invented the fields of traffic engineering and queueing theory.
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Ole Worm
- Occupations
- naturalistuniversity teacherprehistorianphysicistarchaeologist
- Biography
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Ole Worm, who often went by the Latinized form of his name Olaus Wormius, was a Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen where he taught Greek, Latin, physics and medicine.
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August Krogh
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicianphysiologistzoologistpedagogue
- Biography
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Schack August Steenberg Krogh was a Danish professor at the department of zoophysiology at the University of Copenhagen from 1916 to 1945. He contributed a number of fundamental discoveries within several fields of physiology, and is famous for developing the Krogh Principle.
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Steen Steensen Blicher
- Occupations
- priestpoettranslatorwriter
- Biography
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Steen Steensen Blicher was an author and poet born in Vium near Viborg, Denmark.
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Sherin Khankan
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Graduated with master's degree in sociology of religion and philosophy
- Occupations
- women's rights activistlecturerwriterpoliticianimam
- Biography
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Sherin Khankan is Denmark's (and Scandinavia's) first female imam; she founded a women-led mosque in Copenhagen. She is also an activist on Muslim issues including female integration and extremism, and has written numerous texts discussing Islam and politics.
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Wilhelm Ludwig Johannsen
- Occupations
- university teachergeneticistbotanist
- Biography
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Wilhelm Johannsen was a Danish pharmacist, botanist, plant physiologist, and geneticist. He is best known for coining the terms gene, phenotype and genotype, and for his 1903 "pure line" experiments in genetics.
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Johan Christian Fabricius
- Occupations
- carcinologistuniversity teacherarachnologistbiologistlepidopterist
- Biography
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Johan Christian Fabricius was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is considered one of the most important entomologists of the 18th century, having named nearly 10,000 species of animals, and established the basis for the modern insect classification.
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Ditlev Gothard Monrad
- Occupations
- farmerdiplomatprelate
- Biography
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Ditlev Gothard Monrad was a Danish politician and bishop, and a founding father of Danish constitutional democracy; he also led the country as Council President in its huge defeat during the Second Schleswig War. Later, he became a New Zealand pioneer before returning to Denmark to become a bishop and politician once more.
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Jens Christian Skou
- Occupations
- university teacherbiochemistphysiologistchemistautobiographer
- Biography
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Jens Christian Skou was a Danish biochemist and Nobel laureate.
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Rasmus Rask
- Occupations
- philologistuniversity teacherlinguisthistorical linguist
- Biography
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Rasmus Kristian Rask was a Danish linguist and philologist. He wrote several grammars and worked on comparative phonology and morphology. Rask traveled extensively to study languages, first to Iceland, where he wrote the first grammar of Icelandic, and later to Russia, Persia, India, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Shortly before his death, he was hired as professor of Eastern languages at the University of Copenhagen. Rask is especially known for his contributions to comparative linguistics, including an early formulation of what would later be known as Grimm's Law. He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1829.
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Pia Olsen Dyhr
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied in 1992-2010
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Pia Olsen Dyhr is a Danish politician who has been a member of the Folketing for the Green Left since the 2007 general elections. Dyhr has served as Minister for Trade and Investment and later Minister of Transport in the first Helle Thorning-Schmidt Cabinet. Following her party's resignation from the cabinet, Dyhr was elected as chairman of her party.
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Karen Melchior
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticiancivil servant
- Biography
-
Karen Melchior is a Danish lawyer and politician, formerly of the Danish Social Liberal Party, who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019.
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Holger Bech Nielsen
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicisttheoretical physicist
- Biography
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Holger Bech Nielsen is a Danish theoretical physicist and professor emeritus at the Niels Bohr Institute, at the University of Copenhagen, where he started studying physics in 1961.
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Jón Sigurðsson
- Occupations
- historianpoliticianphilologist
- Biography
-
Jón Sigurðsson was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement.
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Aksel V. Johannesen
- Years
- 1972-.. (age 52)
- Occupations
- politicianassociation football playerlawyer
- Biography
-
Aksel Vilhelmsson Johannesen is a Faroese lawyer and politician for the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin) and the current prime minister of the Faroe Islands. He previously served as prime minister from 2015 to 2019. He is a former footballer.
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Peter Brixtofte
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Graduated with Cand.polit.
- Occupations
- journalistediting staffpolitician
- Biography
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Peter Brixtofte was a Danish politician who was member of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget) representing Venstre from 1973 to 1977, from 1979 to 1981, during 1983 and from 1990 to 8 February 2005. Brixtofte served as the Tax Minister of Denmark from 19 November 1992 to 24 January 1993. He was also Mayor of Farum, and was criminally convicted for actions taken while holding that municipal office and was later jailed. He was the brother of Brixx Member, Jens Brixtofte.
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Peter Wilhelm Lund
- Occupations
- naturalistanthropologistexplorerarchaeologistzoologist
- Biography
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Peter Wilhelm Lund was a Danish Brazilian paleontologist, zoologist, and archeologist. He spent most of his life working and living in Brazil. He is considered the father of Brazilian paleontology as well as archaeology.
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Sofie Carsten Nielsen
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Sofie Carsten Nielsen is a Danish politician, who was formerly the leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party from October 2020 to November 2022. In the 2000s, Nielsen began her political career with the European Parliament as a consultant before working for the Ministry of Gender Equality as a deputy minister. After being elected to the Folketing at the 2011 Danish general election for the Greater Copenhagen constituency, Nielsen became the Minister for Higher Education and Science in 2014. Nielsen remained in her minister position until she was replaced by Esben Lunde Larsen in 2015.
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Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Social Democrats political party. From 2019 to 2022, she has served as Minister of Children and Education. She was elected into parliament at the 2011 Danish general election. She had previously been a member of parliament from 2001 to 2007 as a member of the Red-Green Alliance. From 2011 to 2014, she was the spokesperson on climate and energy for the Social Democrats.
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Oskar Klein
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicisttheoretical physicist
- Biography
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Oskar Benjamin Klein was a Swedish theoretical physicist.
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Johannes Fibiger
- Occupations
- parasitologistuniversity teacherchemistpathologistphysician
- Biography
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Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger was a Danish physician and professor of anatomical pathology at the University of Copenhagen. He was the recipient of the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discovery of the Spiroptera carcinoma". He demonstrated that the roundworm which he called Spiroptera carcinoma (but correctly named Gongylonema neoplasticum) could cause stomach cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) in rats and mice. His experimental results were later proven to be a case of mistaken conclusion. Erling Norrby, who had served as the Permanent Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Professor and Chairman of Virology at the Karolinska Institute, declared Fibiger's Nobel Prize as "one of the biggest blunders made by the Karolinska Institute."
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Helmuth Nyborg
- Years
- 1937-.. (age 87)
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- In 1966 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in philosophy
- In 1968 graduated with Master of Arts in psychology
- Occupations
- canoeistuniversity teacherpsychologistscientist
- Biography
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Helmuth Sørensen Nyborg is a Danish psychologist and former athlete. He is a former professor of developmental psychology at Aarhus University and Olympic canoeist. His main research topic is the connection between hormones and intelligence. Among other things, he has worked on increasing the intelligence of girls with Turner's syndrome by giving them estrogen.
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Hope Jahren
- Occupations
- biologistgeochemistgeobiologistgeologist
- Biography
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Anne Hope Jahren is an American geochemist and geobiologist at the University of Oslo in Norway, known for her work using stable isotope analysis to analyze fossil forests dating to the Eocene. She has won many prestigious awards in the field, including the James B. Macelwane Medal of the American Geophysical Union.
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Christian Bohr
- Occupations
- university teacherbiologistphysicianphysicistphysiologist
- Biography
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Christian Harald Lauritz Peter Emil Bohr was a Danish physician, father of the physicist and Nobel laureate Niels Bohr, as well as the mathematician and football player Harald Bohr and grandfather of another physicist and Nobel laureate Aage Bohr. He married Ellen Adler in 1881.
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Mia Wagner
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied in 1998-2003
- Occupations
- chief executive officerministerlawyer
- Biography
-
Mia Therese Wagner is a Danish businesswoman, lawyer and politician. Representing Venstre, she served as Minister for Digitalisation and Equality in the Frederiksen II Cabinet from November to December 2023.
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Morten P. Meldal
- Occupations
- biochemistresearcherchemist
- Biography
-
Morten Peter Meldal is a Danish chemist and Nobel laureate. He is a professor of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is best known for developing the CuAAC-click reaction, concurrently with but independent of Valery V. Fokin and K. Barry Sharpless.
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Lykke Friis
- Occupations
- economistpolitician
- Biography
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Lykke Friis is Prorector for Education at the University of Copenhagen and is a former Danish politician for the party Venstre and former Minister for Climate and Energy and equal rights. Prior to her political career she has once before been Prorector at the University of Copenhagen and held the position from 2006 - 2009. Prior to her appointment as government minister, she was not a member of Venstre.
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Astrid Krag
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Astrid Krag is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Social Democrats political party. She served as the Minister of Social Affairs and the Interior in the Cabinet of Mette Frederiksen. She previously served as Minister of Health and Prevention in the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt from October 2011 until January 2014.
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Connie Hedegaard
- Occupations
- journalistpoliticianinternational forum participant
- Biography
-
Connie Hedegaard Koksbang is a Danish politician and public intellectual. She was European Commissioner for Climate Action in the (second Barroso) European Commission from 10 February 2010 through 31 October 2014.
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Kristján Eldjárn
- Occupations
- anthropologistcuratorpoliticianarchaeologist
- Biography
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Kristján Eldjárn was the third president of Iceland, from 1968 to 1980.
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Helle Helle
- Occupations
- novelistwriter
- Biography
-
Helle Helle is a widely translated Danish short story writer and novelist. Basing her stories on episodes in the lives of ordinary people, she gained fame in 2005 with her novel Rødby-Puttgarden. Now considered to be one of the most outstanding authors of contemporary Danish literature, since her novel This Should be Written in the Present Tense was published in English in 2014, she has also been acclaimed by American and British reviewers.
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Nick Hækkerup
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Nick Hækkerup is a Danish writer and politician of Social Democrats who has been serving as the Minister of Justice in the Frederiksen Cabinet from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as Minister of Defence, and Minister of Health.
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Kåre Schultz
- Years
- 1961-.. (age 63)
- Occupations
- chief executive officerbusinesspersoneconomist
- Biography
-
Kåre Schultz is a Danish business executive. Was the chief executive officer of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries between September 2017 - December 2022.
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Frits Clausen
- Occupations
- military personnelphysicianpolitician
- Biography
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Frits Clausen was a far-right Danish politician and leader of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark (DNSAP) before and during World War II.
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Niels Kaj Jerne
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicianimmunologist
- Biography
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Niels Kaj Jerne, FRS was a Danish immunologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1984 with Georges J. F. Köhler and César Milstein "for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies".
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Hans Ørberg
- Occupations
- latinistgrammarianwriterlanguage teacher
- Biography
-
Hans Henning Ørberg was a Danish linguist and teacher. He received a master's degree in English, French, and Latin at the University of Copenhagen and taught these languages in many Danish high schools until 1963 and then taught in a Danish Gymnasium until 1988. He was the author of LINGVA LATINA PER SE ILLVSTRATA, a widely used method for learning Latin through the natural method.
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Thomas Bartholin
- Occupations
- physician
- Biography
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Thomas Bartholin was a Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian. He discovered the lymphatic system in humans and advanced the theory of refrigeration anesthesia, being the first to describe it scientifically.
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Ellen Trane Nørby
- Occupations
- politicianart historian
- Biography
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Ellen Trane Nørby is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Venstre political party. From 28 November 2016 to 27 June 2019 she was Denmark's Minister of Health.
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Hans Kramers
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- Studied in 1916-1919
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicisttheoretical physicist
- Biography
-
Hendrik Anthony "Hans" Kramers was a Dutch physicist who worked with Niels Bohr to understand how electromagnetic waves interact with matter and made important contributions to quantum mechanics and statistical physics.
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Eva Kjer Hansen
- Enrolled in the University of Copenhagen
- In 2012 graduated with candidate in economics
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Eva Kjer Hansen is a former Danish politician, who was a member of the Folketing for the Venstre political party. She held many ministerial positions, the last being as minister of Fisheries, Gender Equality and Nordic Cooperation from 2 May 2018 to 27 June 2019. Hansen was a member of parliament from the 1990 Danish general election to the 2022 Danish general election where she was not re-elected.
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Bernhard Severin Ingemann
- Occupations
- hymnwriterpoetautobiographerwriter
- Biography
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Bernhard Severin Ingemann was a Danish novelist and poet.
