Cato M. Guldberg
Cato M. Guldberg (1836-1902) was a mathematician and physicist. Together with chemist Peter Waage he developed the Guldberg and Waage law of mass action, which would be of great importance for the further development of physical chemistry.
![Stinius Fredriksen: Cato M. Guldberg, 1950. Stinius Fredriksen: Cato M. Guldberg, 1950.](https://www.uib.no/sites/w3.uib.no/files/styles/content_main/public/w2/gu/guldberg_0.jpg?itok=9UerAFuY×tamp=1579190925)
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Guldberg and Waage published their first results in 1864, but the law of mass action was not fully recognized until 1879, when a revised presentation was published in the German Journal für praktische Chemie. Guldberg was one of the first to use molecular kinetic and thermodynamic methods in chemistry, and he also did innovative work in meteorology.
Guldberg was a Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Christiania from 1869. From 1874 to -83 he sat on the board of the country's railroads, and from 1876 he was a member of the management board of Hovedbanen, the first railway in Norway. Guldberg was also a member of several commissions. He was editor of the Norwegian Polytechnic journal between 1863 and -73, and several times president of the Scientific Society in Oslo. In 1877 he was appointed Honorary Doctor at the Uppsala University.
The bust of Guldberg is big, bigger than he was alive. He has a full beard that continues in a crown of hair at the back his head. The high forehead and the serious expression make him look wise. The dark bronze has gotten streaks of lighter green with age.
Stinius Fredriksen (1902-1977) was a sculptor. His early works in the 1920s were classical, but from the middle of the 1930s he changed to a partly abstract style. In 1934 he made two of the sculptures outside the courthouse in Bergen, Wisdom and Justice, in a simplified, hard style. He worked most of his career at restoring the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, and he developed a personal "Gothic" style in his cathedral sculpture. His colleagues jokingly called him St. Inius. Stinius Fredriksen was chairman of the Visual Artists’ Board in the years 1951-1955. He was appointed Officer of the Order of St. Olav in 1969.
NORA SØRENSEN VAAGE