Communicating Science for 253 Years: The History of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters and Its Museum (2014)
Overskaug, Kristian (Author)
Steffensen, Morten (Author)
Museum History Journal
Volume: 7
Pages: 55-67
To establish a library and a museum were key aims when the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters was founded in 1760 in Trondheim, then Norway's second largest city with 7,000 inhabitants. Bishop Johan E. Gunnerus (1718--73) took a bold initiative in starting the Society; Norway was a dependency of Denmark and such activity could be construed as subversive. In 1761 the first issue of the scientific journal Skrifter (Transactions) appeared, and is still regularly published as one of the main activities of the Society. Steps towards creating a library and a museum were taken in 1778 when the Society was allocated an auditorium in the Cathedral School in the city. A significant advance occurred in 1866 when the Society moved into its own building. By that time, 25,000 people lived in the city, and it was estimated that half of the city's population visited the first public exhibitions at the newly-opened museum. School pupils were an important segment of the visitors, and this continues to be the case today when some 170,000 people live in the city and its vicinity. From 1984 the museum has been managed by the University, providing a sense of stability. However, we describe here the upheavals that Norway has experienced and the impact that they had on the Society and its museum. We refer to the Union with Denmark until 1814 and with Sweden up to 1905, the occupation in the Second World War (1940--45), and the period of rapid modernization up to the present day. Keywords: J. E. Gunnerus, 1760, science communication, social and political change, Trondheim, Norway
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