Normat 61:2, 111–132 (2013) 111
Language choice in scientific writing: The case
of mathematics at Uppsala University and a
Nordic Journal
Christer Oscar Kiselman
Uppsala University,
Department of Information Technology
P. O. Box 337, SE-751 05 Uppsala
kiselman@it.uu.se, christer@kiselman.eu
www.cb.uu.se/˜kiselman
1 Introduction
The purpose of this note is to show how language choice in mathematical disser-
tations presented at Uppsala University changed during one century, from 1852 to
1953—a rapid change in comparison with the more stable situation during the cen-
turies 1477–1852. We shall also take a look at languages chosen by mathematicians
in Sweden in the journal Acta Mathematica from its start in 1882 and up to 1958.
This study was presented at the Nitobe Symposium in Reykjavík (2013 July 18–
20) entitled Languages and Internationalization in Higher Education: Ideologies,
Practices, Alternatives, organized by the Center for Research and Documentation
on World Language Problems (CED).
2 A beginning in the vernacular of the learned
In a bull dated 1477 February 27, Pope Sixtus IV granted permission to the Arch-
bishop of Uppsala, Jakob Ulvsson, to establish a university there.
1
The Archbishop
was appointed Chancellor of the new university, which was the first in northern
Europe and remained the northernmost for 163 years, until the founding in 1640 of
Sweden’s third university in Åbo (now Turku in Finland). The university, with its
four faculties—Theology, Law, Medicine, and Philosophy—had the right to confer
the degrees of Bachelor, Master, Licentiate, and Doctor. (Lindroth 1975a:129–
131, 1976:6.) However, the doctor degree was limited to the Faculties of Law and
1
Sixtus lived 1414–1484 and was pope 1471–1484. Jakob Ulvsson was born in the 1430s, died
in 1521, and was archbishop 1469–1515.
112 Christer Oscar Kiselman Normat 2/2013
Medicine (Carl Frängsmyr, personal communication 2014 March 03). In the Fac -
ulty of Philosophy, to which mathematics belonged, the degree was not sanctioned
by the state until 1870.
There was no activity at Uppsala University during most of the sixteenth cen-
tury:
The close connection between University and Church aorded a false security, a
total dependence on the Archbishop’s personal benevolence. Thus when Archbishop
Jakob Ulvsson retired in 1515, the University stood without patronage. Teaching
soon went into decline and the few lecturers and students dispe rsed. Sweden entered
the epoch of the Reformation, a time of revolutionary crises in religion and politics,
which resulted in the suppres sion of Catholicism in the country. And with that, the
medieval university also ceased to function. (Johannisson 1989:12)
In Uppsala the University was fast asleep and, for the time being, nothing was being
done to awaken it. This was something of a national scandal and was also regarded
as such in som e quarters. (Lindroth 1976:16)
The university was “re-born” in 1593 and formally “resurrected” by an act of gov-
ernment dated 1595 March 15. “In 1599, 32 students were enrolled, making 150
altogether. (Lindroth 1976:25).
There was, however, no change of language: also after the resurrection all lec-
tures in all subjects were held in Latin. This was so obvious that it did not need
to be mentioned in the regulations (Tengström 1973:42). Dissertations were also
in Latin.
Ernst Mauritz Dahlin (1843–1929) published a detailed account of mathemat-
ical activity in Sweden before 1679 (Dahlin 1875). Actually very little is known
about mathematic s in Uppsala before the resurrection in 1595. Anyhow, no other
language than Latin appears in the texts written by the mathematicians mentioned
in his article.
Also during the time of the so-called Swedish Empire, 1611–1718, Latin had a
dominating place in the education (Tengström 1973:62). At Lund University, all
lectures at the end of the seventeenth century were in Latin, and the deliberations
of the university board were held in Latin, although the minutes were written in
Swedish (Johannesson 1982:217).
3 A transition to Swedish
An autopsy performed by Olof Rudbeck (1630–1703) in 1677 was conducted in
Swedish. His choice of language was an exceptional and most shocking event,
and was heavily criticized (Annerstedt 1908:172–173, Tengström 1973:63, Teleman
2003:16).
During the eighteenth century there was a gradual transition of the lectures
from Latin to Swedish, first at Lund (Annerstedt 1914:151) and later at Uppsala,
but a part of the scientific publications was still in Latin (Tengström 1973:81–84).
Latin started to disappear as a language of instruction from the 1720s, but in the
catalogues, lectures were still announced in Latin up to 1852 (Lindberg 1994:78).
Dissertations were usually presented in Latin up to the reform of 1852 (Tengström
1973:90).
Normat 2/2013 Christer Oscar Kiselman 113
It is noteworthy that mathematical education existed also outside the univer-
sities: Anders Gabriel Duhre (1680–1739) gave lectures in mathematics during the
period 1717–1723 at the Fortifikationskontoret, the National Fortifications Agency,
in Stockholm. His lectures were held in Swedish since his audience there knew little
or no Latin. Later, he also lectured in Swedish on mathematics in central Uppsala,
quite close to the university, a fact which was considered by the university as a
kind of hostile competition. (Nordisk Familjebok, volume 6, 1907; Staan Rodhe,
personal communication 2015 April 24.)
The first professor of economics in Sweden was Anders Berch (1711–1774),
nominated by the king on 1741 September 16 to be Professor jurisprudentiae,
oeconomiae et commerciorum (Liedman & Persson 1992:262). In several respects,
this professorship represents a rare exception in the university politics of Sweden.
Parliament decided not only to create the chair, but also who should be its first
incumbe nt. Moreover, His Majesty the King, i.e., the government, decided, in ac-
cordance with the wishes expressed by Parliament, that the new professor should
lecture in Swedish, and that all thesis presentations in this field should be held in
Swedish (Segerstedt 1971:58, 97; cf. Lindroth 1976:124–125). The reason was c lear:
Sweden had been drained of manpower and capital, been reduced from a great power
to an insignificant minor state on the edge of Europ e. The situation called for quick
remedies. In the economic field, m ercantilism was making a vigorous breakthrough
[. . . ] (Johannisson 1989:42)
Swedish gradually came into use in lectures and publications during the 18th cen-
tury. There was a pressure from the outside, prompted by the spirit of bourgeois
public utility. (Lindroth 1976:124)
However, this was the only ocial exemption from the use of Latin during lectures
that was granted during this period (Annerstedt 1914:149).
That the situation for this economics professor really was an exception is clear
also from the fact that the com miss ion which had to oversee academic and school
matters requested on 1746 November 12 His Majesty the King to allow dissertations
in certain subjects, including mathematics, to be held in Swedish. The King denied
this right in a decision of 1746 December 06, and decided that theses must be
written and defended in Latin—and to be translated into Swedish and published
after the defense (Annerstedt 1908:260–261, 1912:393–395).
The holders of the Skyttean Professorship in Eloquence and Politics, established
in 1622 by Johan Skytte (1577–1645), all lectured in Latin. The incumb ents up to
1697 we called in from Germany and probably could not speak suciently good
Swedish; the students probably did not know German well enough. This was not
important: Latin rhetoric was the foremost concern; sometimes Greek appeared
(Lindroth 1975b:188). A full-fledged scholar should also speak Hebrew, be a homo
trilinguis (Lindroth 1975a:269). Johan Ihre (1707–1780; holder of the Skyttean
Professorship 1738–1780) defended in a speech in 1754 the use of Latin as an
international language and expressed worries about the increasing use of other
languages: that could le ad to one’s whole lifetime being wasted, and the republic
of academia to be divided (Gren-Eklund 2011:57–58; cf. Lindroth 1976:125). For
other aspects of languages used in scientific writing in the eighteenth century, see
Gunnarsson (Ed., 2011).
Dissertations could be defended either pro exercitio ‘as an exercise’, or pro gradu
‘to obtain a degree’ (Lindroth 1976:139, 1978:32; Bohlin 2015:9). A successful
114 Christer Oscar Kiselman Normat 2/2013
defense pro exercitio gave the defendant the right to present a dissertation pro
gradu (Bohlin 2015:9).
Erik Bohlin (2015) translated and commented the dissertation De Cicerone
Mathematico ‘On Cicero as a Mathematician’ presented on 1759 June 13 by Anders
(Andreas) Piscator (1736–1804). This was pro exercitio, and Piscator could later
present a thesis pro gradu in 1761. The president of the session in 1759 was Petrus
Ekerman (1697–1783), eloquentiae professor, and Bohlin discusses who the author
of the text could have been. He concludes that, in this case, no definite answer
can be given (2015:11). Clearly, the main point was not the actual content of the
printed text but the eloquence (in Latin, of course) displayed by the candidate
during the session. In those days it was common for the president to write the
text to be defended; Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), for instance, was responsible for
every line in the many dissertations he chaired (Lindroth 1978:32). Sometimes the
candidate had to pay for this service. Ekerman presided during his long life over
a total of 516 disputations (Lindroth 1976:110), and he amass ed a considerable
fortune from this industry (Lindroth 1978:21; Bohlin 2015:7). Lindroth (1976:124)
even calls it “his unashamed industry in connection with disputations.
In spite of all this Latin, there were some remarkable exceptions: Gustav III
(who lived 1746–1792 and was king of Sweden 1771–1792) spent six weeks in Upp-
sala during the fall of 1786 and ordered a thesis to be defended; to please the
monarch the language was Swedish (Lindroth 1981:13). The king strongly sup-
ported Swedish: he founded the Swedish Academy in the very same year.
Later, on 1788 March 22, the king and his entourage listened, with applause
and laughter, to Thomas Thorild (1759–1808) vehemently attacking the ideas of
Montesquieu (1689–1755), this time probably also in Swedish (Lindroth 1981:13–
14).
In mathematics there were hardly any theses in Swedish before 1845; after that,
both Latin and Swedish were used (Tengström 1973:90–91). In mathematics knowl-
edge of Latin was required of all students for entering the universities up to 1905
(Tengström 1973:92). In doctoral theses it was allowed until 1964.
4TheNova acta oers a way to reach out
The Royal Society of Sciences of Uppsala, founded in 1710 as the first academy in
Sweden, started to publish its proceedings in 1720; from 1773 the series had the
title Nova acta Regiæ Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis. To reach an international
audience, several Uppsala mathematicians published articles in other languages
than Swedish in these Nova acta.
Adolf Ferdinand Svanberg (1806–1857), who got his Master Degree in 1827,
published two papers in Latin (1832, 1839) and three in French (1847, 1854, 1855)
in the Nova acta. He was appointed professor of physics and mechanics at Uppsala
in 1841.
Christian Fredrik Lindman (1816–1901) got his Master Degree in 1842 and pub-
lished one article in Latin (1854) and two in French (1874, 1888) in the Nova acta.
Normat 2/2013 Christer Oscar Kiselman 115
Evald Viktor Ehrenhold von Zeipel (1823–1893), who presented his thesis in 1851
(which was known as a doctoral thesis; for an explanation see Section 6, page 116),
published one paper in French in the Nova acta (1862).
5 A new statute for Sweden’s universities, 1852
On 1852 April 02, Oscar I, King of Sweden 1844–1859, promulgated an ordinance
(1852:20) with a new statute for the two universities in Sweden, which were located
in Uppsala and Lund. In the Faculty of Philosophy, the academic degrees were
Candidat ‘Candidate’ and Magister ‘Master’ 128). A student for the Master
Degree in the Faculty of Philosophy had to write a thesis in Latin 129).
Dissertations were allowed to be published in Latin or Swedish, and had to
be defended in the chosen language 73, § 144). Theses could be presented and
defended not only for the Master Degree, but also as a step in the procedure of
applying for a university teaching position.
Four well-known mathematicians in Uppsala presented their theses in the 1860s.
These were all in Swedish—Latin was the only alternative. However, as already
mentioned in Section 4, several of them published articles in other languages in the
Nova acta Regiæ Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis.
Göran Dillner (1832–1906) got his degree in 1861; his thesis, in Swedish, was
entitled Geometrisk kalkyl eller geometriska qvantiteters räknelagar, and an article
with that title appeared in the Annual Report of Uppsala University of 1861. He
published six papers, all in French, in the Nova acta (1873, 1877, 1883, 1884, 1892,
1893). The first of them has a title related to that of his thesis: “Traité de calcul
géométrique supérieur” (1873). Later he published two reports in Swedish from his
visit to German universities and from his visit to Italian and French universities.
They are entitled, respectively, “Om matematikens studium vid några af de tyska
universiteten” (37 pp.) and “Om matematike ns studium i Italien och Frankrike.
Reseberättelse” (28 pp.), and appeared in the Annual Report of Uppsala University,
1876 and 1883, respectively.
Carl Fabian Emanuel Björling (1839–1910) presented his thesis in 1863, and later
published an article in French entitled “Sur quelques transformations d’intégrales
définies” (12 pp.) in the Annual Report of Uppsala University, 1865. He published
one article in French (1870) and one in German (1879) in the Nova acta Regiæ
Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis.
Carl Erik Lundström (1840–1869) presented his thesis in 1969 and published
one article in French in the Nova acta (1869). Gösta Mittag-Leer described him
as “the keenest mind in Uppsala” (Stubhaug 2010:113).
Matths Falk (1841–1926) got his degree in 1869. He published an article in
Swedish entitled “Om partiela dierentialeqvationer af högre ordning än första”
(40 pp.) in the Annual Report of Uppsala University, 1875. This is an account
summarizing two earlier publications: “On the integration of partial dierential
equations of the N
th
order with one dependent and two independent variables” in
Nova acta Regiæ Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis (1872), which is a remarkably
early publication in English by any Swedish mathematician, and another in Tid-
skrift för Matematik och Fysik. He published one more article in English in the
116 Christer Oscar Kiselman Normat 2/2013
Nova acta (1878), three in French (1877, 1879, 1883), and four in German (1892,
1906, 1907, 1913)—a notable language switch from French to German.
During the years 1861–1897, Uppsala University published 22 articles on math-
ematics in its Annual Reports. All except one are in Swedish; the exception being
the one in French by Björling mentioned above.
6 The Doctoral Degree, 1870
On 1870 April 16, Charles XV, King of Sweden 1859–1872, promulgated an ordi-
nance (1870:32) with amendments to the ordinance of 1852 relating to the academic
degrees of several faculties. The degrees in the Faculties of Philosophy, Medicine,
and Law were now Candidate, Licentiate, and Doctor 128). A student for the
doctor degree had to pass a translation test in Latin 129). The permitted lan-
guages in dissertations were, as in the statute of 1852, Latin and Swedish, but
in the field of New European Linguistics now also French, German, English, and
Italian were allowed 73, § 144).
However, the title of Doctor was used already in the 1850s, long before it was for-
mally sanctioned in the statute: at the conferment ceremony, an elaborate diploma
with a text in Latin was given to each successful Master candidate, who obtained
the title philosophiae doctorem et artium liberalium magistrum (in the
accusative case; the diploma reproduced in Lindroth 1976:171 is from 1857). In the
nominative c ase the title was Philosophiae Doctor et Artium Liberalium Magister.
Therefore, justifiably, “recipients unblushingly used the title of doctor” (Lindroth
1976:170). The amendment of 1870 can be viewed as a confirmation by the state
of this fact. As already mentioned, von Zeipel, Dillner, Björling, Lundström, and
Falk presented their theses before 1870; they are examples of such doctors.
On 1876 January 10, Oscar II, King of Sweden 1872–1907, promulgated an
ordinance (1876:5) with a new statute for the two universities. The permitted
languages were the same as in the statute of 1870 73, § 143). Every candidate
for the doctoral degre e in the Faculty of Philosophy had to pass a Latin translation
test prior to being admitted to defend his thesis 129).
Ernst Pfannenstiel (1849–1912), who got his PhD in 1877, published three pa-
pers in German (1883, 1889, 1891) in the Nova acta Regiæ Societatis Scientiarum
Upsaliensis.
Anders Le onard Axel derblom (1847–1912), doctor 1879, published one article
in German (1883) and three articles in French (1884, 1889, 1898) in the Nova acta.
During the first 38 years of the ocial existence of the doctoral degree in the
sciences, i.e., during the perod 1870–1908, only Latin and Swedish were allowed. It
is not remarkable that the mathematicians chose Swedish rather than Latin, which
did not have a suciently developed terminology for contemporary mathematics.
Maybe this could be said also of Swedish, but at least there the students had more
freedom in creating new terms, and could borrow from French or German.
We can conclude that the Nova acta Regiæ Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis
served during a long time as a channel for Uppsala mathematicians to reach out
internationally. We see that this started before the ocial introduction of the
Normat 2/2013 Christer Oscar Kiselman 117
doctorate in 1870. Also, as mentioned above, Björling published an article in
French in the Annual Report of Uppsala University in 1865.
On 1891 April 17, Oscar II, promulgated an ordinance (1891:13) with amend-
ments to the statute of 1876. The languages permitted in theses were not changed
143). However, the Latin translation test in the statute of 1876 was repealed
129).
7 German, English, and French allowed from 1908
On 1908 November 27, Gustaf V, King of Sweden 1907–1950, promulgated an or-
dinance (1908:135) with a statute replacing that of 1876. The permitted languages
were Swedish, Latin, German, English, and French 117).
Thus for the first time German, English, and French were allowed in the sciences.
However, even before 1908, there were five doctoral dissertations in mathematics
presented at Uppsala University in French (in 1892, 1898, 1899, 1903 and 1905),
during the time when the statute of 1891, which permitted only Latin and Swedish
in theses in mathematics, was in force. I do not know how this was possible—maybe
an exemption was granted in each individual case.
On 1916 January 28, Gustaf V promulgated an ordinance (1916:66) with some
amendments to the statute of 1908. The languages permitted were not changed
compared to the ones in 1908 117).
8 Swe dish, French, German, and English
Yngve Domar compiled a list (1982a) of all doctoral theses in mathematics which
were approved at Uppsala University during the period 1870–1982. From this I have
listed the languages of the theses (using the language of their titles); see Table 1.
I have also checked Josephson (1891) for theses from the period 1855–1890, where,
however, it is dicult to separate doctoral dissertations from those presented as
part of an application procedure.
The list does not contain only persons who had obtained their education in
Uppsala. During the years 1883–1903 no less than thirteen theses were presented at
Uppsala University by persons who had studied at Stockholms gskola, Stockholm
University College. This establishment, founded in 1878, obtained the right to
confer doctoral degrees only in 1904. Until then, those who wanted to get the
degree had to defend their theses at a university, i.e., at Uppsala or Lund—or
abroad. Of these thirteen theses, there were nine in Swedish (during the period
1883–1898) and four in French (during the years 1892–1903).
118 Christer Oscar Kiselman Normat 2/2013
Table 1. Languages in mathematical theses at Uppsala University 1870–1980.
Year Swedish French German English Year
1870 1870
••••••
1875 ••• 1875
•••
1880 1880
1883
1885
••
¶¶
1890 ••
1892
1895
1900 ••
•••••
•• 1903
1905 1905 1905
1907
••1909
1910 1910
••
1915 1915 1915
••
1919
1920 1920
1925 ••• 1925
1930 1930
1935 1935
1940 •• 1940
1944
1945 1945
1950 ••• 1950
••
1953
1955 1955
••
1960 1960
••
1965 •••• 1965
•••
••
1970 1970
•••••••
•••
1975 ••••• 1975
••••••
•••
1980 1980
Normat 2/2013 Christer Oscar Kiselman 119
In Table 1, theses defended by somebody with education from Uppsala University
are marked with a bullet, , while theses presented at Uppsala by men who got
their education at Sto ckholm University College are marked with a circle, .
In the beginning of the perio d, there are only theses in Swedish. The first thesis
written in another language came in 1892—or 1905 if we count only theses by
those who had studied at Uppsala University. This means that the students from
Stockholm started the trend thirteen years before those from Uppsala.
With the sole exception of one thesis on the history of mathematics in 2002,
the last thesis in Swedish was presented in 1915. But also this one was an outlier;
the next to last in Swedish came already in 1907. The 1915 thesis was written
by Karl Mattias Essén, known as Matts Essén (1881–1972). While he was writing
his dissertation on a subject proposed by Anders Wiman, he worked full time as
a teacher at Uppsala High School (Schola Cathedral is Upsaliensis). His ambition
was to become a lecturer at the Normal School in Uppsala, and he achieved that
goal. It is not impossible that his plans for this teaching position made him write
only for readers who knew Swedish—he needed to impress the decision makers at
the Normal School. In any case, his school service prevented him from continuing
to do research after his thesis . (Matts Essén, son of the ab ove-mentioned Matts
Essén, in an interview on 1998 January 15.)
When doctoral candidates left Swedish and started to write in another language,
French was the first to be used. A total of fourteen theses in French were presented
during the 45 years 1892–1936.
2
Alternatively, if we include only respondents who
had studied in Uppsala, there were ten theses in French during the 32 years 1905–
1936.
When the theses were no longer in Swedish, doctoral candidates did not write
only in French—there followed a period of both French and German. The first
dissertation in German came 1909, and the last 1953. The list contains 22 theses
in German during these 45 years.
The first doctoral thesis in English was defended already in 1919.
3
However, it
was to be the only one for a long time: the sec ond appeared 25 years later, in 1944.
This second thesis in English was presented by C arl-Gustav Ess ee n. When asked
why he wrote in English, he give me two reasons (Carl-Gustav Esseen, personal
communication 1998 January 13). The first was that he could write in English more
easily than in German, although he had studied more German than English in high
school. French he did not know suciently well. The second and more important
reason was that in his field, mathematical statistics and probability, British re-
searchers, for example Ronald Fisher (1890–1962) and Karl Pearson (1857–1936),
and some Americans, were the leaders. Important journals were Journal of the
2
Alater,isolated example is a thesis from 1980 consisting of one article in English and one
in French. The title and the abstract were in English. Conceivably, this could be the case also in
other theses, si nce in general only the title has been used for classification.
3
This thesis was written by Ragnar Nyhlén (1892–1949). He determined the groups of order
16p
2
and 8p
3
.Thereisnoacknowledgmentormentioningofanyadvisorinthetext.Aclueto
why it was written in English might be that the theory of finite groups depended a lot on the
work of William Burnside (1852–1927). His book Theory of Groups of Finite Order from 1897
as well as its later edition from 1911 were very important, and both are quoted by Nyhlén. He
also quoted several journal articles in English.
120 Christer Oscar Kiselman Normat 2/2013
Royal Statistical Society, published in London, and the American Annals of Math-
ematical Statistics (1930–1972; after that divided into two). In probability, Rus-
sians like Andre˘ı Kolmogorov (1903–1987) and Aleksandr Khinchin (1894–1959)
were leading, while the Germans were not that outstanding in Carl-Gustav’s opin-
ion, neither in probability, nor in mathematical statistics, and did not publish any
very important journal in the area. Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze writes:
In probability theory, the French and Russian schools were much stronger than
the German one, Richard von Mises being essentially the only contributor on the
German side during the 1920s. (Siegmund-Schultze 2014:1236)
As an early example of Swedes being oriented towards British science, C arl-Gustav
mentioned Harald Cramér (1893–1985), whose book Random variables and proba-
bility distributions appeared in 1937 in the series Cambridge Tracts. Cramér’s stu-
dents, Herman Wold (1938), Carl-Otto Segerdahl (1939), and Ove Lundberg (1940),
all presented their theses in English at Stockholm University College. Esseen him-
self published two papers in English, in 1942 and 1943, b e fore he presented his
thesis in 1944. The choice of language in these early dissertations was thus clearly
motivated by the strong presence of certain researchers in the field.
Arne Beurling
4
(1905–1986) wrote his thesis in French in 1933 after having spent
some time in Paris. Esseen was the first of Beurling’s students who got a PhD; the
second, Göran Borg (1913–1997), wrote his thesis, which was not in mathematical
statistics but on Sturm–Liouville theory, in German in 1945, and Beurling’s other
students all in English.
The transition in Uppsala from Swedish to French and then to German is actually
easy to explain. Anders Wiman (1865–1959) became an extra-ordinary professor
in 1901 and an ordinary professor in 1907. Erik Holmgren (1872–1943) became
an extra-ordinary professor in 1907. With them research at Uppsala were raised
to an international level, and it became natural to direct doctoral theses to re-
searchers in other countries. It can also be mentioned that Wiman wrote mostly in
German, while Holmgren wrote mostly in French: Wiman’s mathematical bibliog-
raphy comprises 72 papers during the period 1892–1954, of which 6 are in Swedish,
3 in French, and 63 in German, while Holmgren wrote 31 papers during 1898–1927,
of which 3 are in Swedish, 23 in French and 5 in German.
The first four theses in French (1892–1903) were presented by candidates from
Stockholm Unive rsity College, and this had a reason: a rise to an international
level had occurred earlier there. It had been achieved by Gösta Mittag-Leer
(1846–1927), professor from 1881, and Sonja Kovalevsky
5
(1850–1891), professor
1884–1891. For more on Gösta, his life and work, and how he succeded in bringing
Sonja to Stockholm, see Stubhaug (2010; 2015).
4
There is a Arne Beurlings torg ‘Arne Beurling’s square’ in Kista, north of Stockholm. This
is in recognition of his deciphering in 1940 of the code of the Geheimfernschreiber used by Nazi
Germany for messages to and from occupied Norway and on the Eastern front.
5
Her Russian name was (transliterated) Sof
Õ
ja Vasil
Õ
evna Kovalevskaja. In her publications
she used the male form of her family name: her inaugural dissertation was published in Crelle’s
journal in 1875 under the name Sophie von Kowalevsky; her articles in Ge rm an and French in
Acta Mathematica were written under the name Sophie Kowalevski. In Sweden she was known
as Sonja Kovalevsky; a p ortrait that hung in the oce of her successor Lars Hörmander she had
signed as Sophie Kovalevsky; this is also the form of her name that Mittag-Leer used in the
French-language obituary, dated 1892 Octob er.
Normat 2/2013 Christer Oscar Kiselman 121
After 1953 and up to 1980, there are only theses in English—with half of an
exception from 1980 as mentioned in footnote 2.
There are three women who presented their theses (all in English) during the
period 1870–1980: Sonja Lyttkens (1919–2014) in 1956, Kersti Haliste in 1965, and
Anna-Lisa Arrhenius-Wold (1914–1994) in 1971.
There was one thesis in pedagogy with specialization in the didactics of math-
ematics during the period: Matts Håstad 1978, in Swedish (not listed in Table 1
since it was not in mathematics). Later, during the years 2002–2009, four theses in
mathematics on the history or pedagogy of mathematics were presented at Uppsala
University. One was in Swedish; three in English: Staan Rodhe, Matematikens
utveckling i Sverige fram till 1731 (2002); Johan Prytz, Speaking of Geometry
(2007); Johanna Pejlare, On Axioms and Images in the History of Mathematics
(2008); Kajsa Bråting, Studies in the Conceptual Development of Mathematical
Analysis (2009).
It should be emphasized that the transition from Swedish to French and German
in no part depended on any foreigners presenting their theses . The first non-Swede
in the whole list is O. Gruder, who wrote in German and got his PhD in 1952.
In the 1970s and 1980s there were many PhD students in Uppsala from other
countries—but they do not influence the statistics, since by then e verything was in
English anyway. This situation prevails until now.
9 Science in France and G ermany
As we can see, French and German coexisted for some time (1909–1936) in theses
at Uppsala. This is due to contacts during several decades between advisors at
Uppsala and mathematicians in the two leading countries.
In mathematics during the latter part of the nineteenth century, French res earch
flourished, w ith Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) as a world leader. To illustrate his
influence, one example may suce. Poincaré published in 1886 in the Bulletin de
la Société mathématique de France a paper on infinite determinants. Mittag-Leer
advised Helge von Koch (1870–1924) to work in this field, and von Koch published
two papers in Acta Mathematica in 1891 and 1892. His PhD thesis, presented at
Uppsala University in 1892 when he was 22, was based on these two papers. (He
is now best remembered for the von Koch snow flake, an early fractal.)
However, except for this brilliant example, the strong position for French mathe-
matics is only weakly reflected in the French-language dissertations written during
the nineteenth century in Uppsala.
Of the sixty men who got their degree during the period 1870–1915, probably six
can be said to have been internationally well-known mathematicians: Gösta Mittag-
Leer (1872; Swedish), Helge von Koch (1892; French), Erik Axel Holmgren (1898;
Swedish), Ivar Fredholm (1898; French), H. T. Grönwall (1898; Swedish), and Fritz
Carlson (1914; French). None of them wrote in German, and the proportion of
theses in French among them, one half, is larger than in the whole list.
The situation in physics was remarkably dierent:
122 Christer Oscar Kiselman Normat 2/2013
Table 2. Language choice in theses in physics during forty years, 1890–1929
(Kaiserfeld 1997:245–258).
Swedish German French English Sum
Uppsala University 38 23 2 1 64
Lund University 6 15 1 0 22
Stockholm University College 3 7 0 2 12
Sum 47 45 3 3 98
Referring to the first half of the twentieth century, Thomas Kaiserfeld (1997:29–30)
writes that, since the end of the nineteenth ce ntury, Göttingen and Berlin were the
most important centers for physics and mathematics. Many Swedish physicists
visited Göttingen: travelling PhD students served as the eyes and ears in the world
for the physics departments in Sweden.
It may be that the c omparatively strong position of French among mathemati-
cians was unique within the sciences.
Bo Sandelin made a similar study of language choice in doctoral theses in eco-
nomics in Sweden. In his table (2001:523) of theses from the period 1895–1969, the
last thesis in German was published in 1935, and French does not appear at all.
For an appraisal of German mathematics in the nineteenth century, let me men-
tion what Mittag-Leer reported from his meeting in 1873 with Charles Hermite
(1822–1901). He rmite is quoted as saying:
“My heart bleeds, but I must speak the truth, also in the field of mathematics, the
Germans are currently far superior to us. [. . . ] Vous avez fait erreur, Monsieur,
me dit-il: vous auriez suivre les cours de Weierstrass à Berlin, c’est notre maître
àtous. (Stubhaug 2010:156)
Similarly, in a recent article by Arild Stubhaug:
Hermite considered that, for the moment, German mathematics was superior to
that of the French and he spoke with the greatest admiration about Bernhard
Riemann, Karl Weierstrass and other German mathematicians, and recommended
that Mittag-Leer make a longer sojourn in Germany. Hermite regretted that he
himself was unable to journey there due to the antagonism that still existed between
the two countries after the French-German War of 1870–71. (Stubhaug 2015:23)
Also later, during the 1920s, mathematics flourished in Germany. Laurent Schwartz
(1915–2002) writes in his memoirs about this:
À côté d’une science française, sinon médiocre, du moins très moyenne, l’Allemagne
connut un développement scientifique prodigieux. Durant la Première Guerre, elle
protégea, à l’arrière, ses savants travaillant pour les militaires ; après la défaite, elle
fit preuve d’un dynamisme généralement plus grand que la France. Entre 1930 et
1932, la science allemande était à son zénith. Les plus grands savants du monde se
trouvaient à Göttingen. (Schwartz 1997:79)
Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze concurs:
Arguably, by the late 1920s and early 1930s, mathematics in Germany, particularly
in Göttingen, had become the most ‘internationalized’ of all national mathematical
cultures of the world. (Siegmund-Schultze 2014:1236)
For more on the development in Germany, see Gordin (2015, Chapter 7, Unspeak-
able) and my paper on Werner Fenchel (2018).
Normat 2/2013 Christer Oscar Kiselman 123
10 Language choice in Acta Mathematica
To complement the survey of language choice in doctoral dissertations, let us take
a look at the languages used by mathematicians in Sweden who published in the
journal Acta Mathematica; see Table 3. This journal was founded in 1882 by
Gösta Mittag-Leer; see Domar (1982b). The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871
was then still close in time, and Mittag-Leer wanted his journal to be a neutral
scientific arena between the two great powers—who were still hostile to each other.
Concerning the origin of the journal, let us note that Sophus Lie (1842–1899)
and Mittag-Leer met in June 1881, and it was then that the idea for the new
journal was born (Stubhaug 2010:272). “The two men also agreed that the editors
of the journal ought to be leading Nordic mathematicians, and that the treatises,
of the highest professional caliber, should be published in German or French, or
occasionally in English or Latin” (Stubhaug 2010:265). Only German and French
were used in the beginning. Latin and English should be allowed exceptionally
(Domar 1982b:3). The first article in English was published in 1887 (volume 11),
by Sir William Thomson in Glasgow, Lord Kelvin; the second in 1890–1891 (volume
14); and the third in 1901 (volume 24). No article ever appeared in Latin.
The front page of the journal showed an equilibrium between German and
Fre nch—and still does.
The founder succeeded brilliantly in his ambition in that outstanding mathe-
maticians from the two leading countries published their articles in his journal. It
became a great success, and is still one of the world’s leading journals, at least in
certain subfields of m athematics .
While a doctoral thesis is a once-in-a-lifetime event for almost everybody, the
same person can publish several articles in a journal over an extended period.
Therefore we cannot expect the same short p eriods of transition when looking at
journals.
10.1 The first 35 volumes of Acta Mathematica, 1882–1912
In 1913, an index covering the first 35 volumes of Acta Mathematica was published,
with years of publication during the period 1882–1912. The index was prepared by
Marcel Riesz (1886–1969, my mathematical grandfather). In these 35 volumes, 24
mathematicians working in Sweden published 18 research articles in German and
49 in French. There is a clear tendency that German dominates among the older
authors, French among the younger ones.
Most writers during this initial period chose one language, e ither German or
Fre nch, and stuck to it. But four of them switched language, from German to
Fre nch, and one in the other direction, with a total of nine articles in German and
eleven articles in French, as shown in Table 4 on page 125.
All others wrote in one language, with the exception of Mittag-Leer himself,
who wrote ten articles in French and two in German during this time. The latter
are, however, an obituary of the great German mathematician Karl Weierstraß
(1815–1897; the mathematical grandfather of my mathematical great-grandfather,
i.e., my mathematical (father)
5
) and a short commentary on his letters and unpub-
lished manuscripts—it was only natural that these two were written in German.
So, as far as publications in Acta Mathematica are concerned, Mittag-Lee r cannot
be considered to be a language switcher.
124 Christer Oscar Kiselman Normat 2/2013
Table 3. Languages in articles by mathematicians in Sweden in Acta
Mathematica, volumes 1–100, years 1882–1958.
= Research article authored by a mathematician working in Sweden.
= A shorter note or an obituary written by a mathematician working in Sweden.
Year Volume French German English Year
1882 1 •• 1882
2, 3
4, 5 ••• ••
1885 6, 7 •••• 1885
8
9, 10, 11 •••• •••
12
1890 13, 14 ••• 1890
15 ••••••
16 ••
17 ••
18 ••
1895 19 1895
20, 21
22
1900 23 •• 1900
24 •••••
25, 26 ••
27 •••
28 ••
1905 29 •• •••• 1905
30
31 ••
32
1910 33 •• 1910
34
35 ••
36 ••
37
1915 1915
40 ••
41 ••
1920 42 1920
38
43
39, 44
1925 45, 46 1925
48 ••
47, 48, 49
51
52, 53
1930 54, 55 1930
56, 57
58, 59
60, 61
62, 63
1935 64, 65 1935
66, 67
68
69
70, 71
1940 72 1940
73, 74 ••••
75
76 ••
1945 77 1945
78
79
80
81 ••••
1950 82, 83, 84 1950
85, 86
87, 88
89, 90
91, 92
1955 93, 94 1955
95, 96 ••
97, 98
1958 99, 100
Normat 2/2013 Christer Oscar Kiselman 125
Table 4. Four scientists changing from German to French in Acta Mathematica
and one changing in the other direction, volumes 1–35, years 1882–1912.
A: Number of articles in German; B: Last article in German;
C: First article in French; D: Number of articles in French.
Born A B C D Died
Carl Johan Malmsten 1814 1 1882 1884 1 1886
Hugo Gyldén 1841 3 1887 1891 2 1896
Sonja Kovalevsky 1850 2 1885 1889 3 1891
Torsten Brodén 1857 1 1905 1904 1 1931
Edvard Phragmén 1863 2 1885 1885 4 1937
In addition to the five persons mentioned in Table 4, six authors wrote a total
of nine articles in German, to wit (with year of birth followed by the number of
publications): Matths Falk (1841; 1), Victor Bäcklund (1845; 1), Anders Lindstedt
(1854; 1), Karl Bohlin (1860; 1), Allvar Gullstrand (1862; 1), and Anders Wiman
(1865; 4).
And in addition to the persons mentioned in Table 4, thirteen wrote a total of
38 articles in French: Alexander Berger (1844; 2), Gösta Mittag-Leer (1846; 10),
Jakob derberg (1856; 1), Ivar Bendixson (1861; 5), Gustaf Kobb (1863; 3), Henrik
Petrini (1863; 1), Gustaf Cassel (1866; 1), Ivar Fredholm (1866; 2), Helge von Koch
(1870; 8), Erik Stridsberg (1871; 1), Wilhelm Oseen (1879; 2), Johannes Malmquist
(1882; 1), and Marcel Ries z (1886; 1). The years of birth indicate that the younger
generation preferred French.
We see that, during the journal’s first 30 years, 1882–1912, mathematicians in
Sweden published both in German and French in Acta Mathematica. The articles
in French were in the majority, comprising 73 per cent of the total. The younger
authors during the time up to 1912 preferred French. It appears that the choice
of language was a personal matter and depended primarily on the advisors’ earlier
visits to France or Germany.
10.2 Volumes 36–100 of Acta Mathematica, 1913–1958
Later, during the years 1913–1947, the languages French and German were roughly
equally frequent in Acta Mathematica among articles authored by mathematicians
in Sweden. However, the total number of authors from Sweden is now very small.
Wiman alone published sixteen papers in Acta Mathematica, all in German, during
the years 1895–1952. From 1945, English appears as a language used by Swedish
mathematicians, s tarting with an article based on Esseen’s thesis of 1944, and it
becomes the only language in articles written by mathematicians in Sweden from
1953, with very few exceptions—one being an obituary in French in 1953 and
another a joint article in French by Arne Beurling and Jacques Deny (1916–2016)
in 1958.
126 Christer Oscar Kiselman Normat 2/2013
11 Bibliotheca mathematica
Gustaf Hjalmar Eneström (1852–1923) was a Swedish mathematician, statistician
and bibliographer. During the years 1884–1914 he edited a journal on the history
of mathematics called Bibliotheca mathematica. It was published in three series:
the first, during the three years 1884–1886, came out as a kind of appendix to
Acta Mathematica; the second, during the years 1887–1899, was an independent
journal published in Stockholm; and the third series, during 1900–1914, was pub-
lished by Teubner in Leipzig—at a more ambitious level. The journal was really
international, which in this context means European. In the beginning it published
mostly bibliographical references. Later, and increasingly so, notices, reviews of
publications as well as full articles appeared. The languages used were French,
German, English, and Italian (never Swedish); later, during the Leipzig years,
German dominated. The publications mentioned or reviewed were written in the
same languages, with the addition in some cases of Russian.
Eneström’s work with Bibliotheca mathematica is really extraordinary and in-
dicates that he followed European research on the history of mathematics quite
closely, and by his eorts enabled many others to do so. I see his journal as an
extremely valuable source.
12 Languages in higher education in Sweden more recently
In the Royal Statute of 1956 (1956:117) for the universities in Uppsala, Lund, and
Gothenburg, replacing the ordinance of 1916, the permitted languages in doctoral
theses are the same as in 1908 and 1916, except for the order in which they are
listed, which is now Swedish, Latin, English, French and German (113 §).
In the Royal Statute of 1964 (1964:461) for the universities and certain university
colleges, Swedish, English, French, and German are the permitted languages in
doctoral theses (99 §). Latin is not permitted after 1964 June 30.
The las t doctoral dissertation to be written in Latin was that of Alf Önnerfors,
Pliniana. In Plinii Maioris Naturalem Historiam studia grammatica semantica
critica, published in 1956 (Erik Bohlin, personal communication 2014 April 04).
According to the ordinance for education at the Faculties of Philosophy (1969:
327), the languages permitted in theses are Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, English,
Fre nch, and German (63 §). This is the first time that the two other Scandinavian
languages are allowed.
In the Higher Education Ordinance of 1977 (1977:263, 8 kap. 30 §), the languages
permitted in theses are the same as in the ordinance of 1969.
As a unique exception, Mohammad Zuhayr (now Zouhair) Al-Adhami, of Stock-
holm University, applied to the government for an exemption from the ordinance:
he wanted to defend a thesis in Arabic entitled Sayyid Zutb. Litteraturkritikern
som vi ser honom i “Fi Zilal Al-zur’an. En litteraturkritisk forskning i “Fi-Zilál
al-Qur’an (1986). The university recommended that this s hould not be permit-
ted: a thesis in Arabic could not be satisfyingly judged by scholars in Sweden.
Universitets- och gskoleämbetet (UHÄ; the Swedish Higher Education Author-
ity) was of the sam e opinion. But the Swedish government nevertheless decided in
August 1985 to permit this. The thesis was defended in 1988.
Normat 2/2013 Christer Oscar Kiselman 127
Nothing is said about languages in doctoral theses in the Higher Education
Ordinance of 1993 (1993:100)—this is true of the original ordinance as well as of
the version which is currently in force in 2016. In an eort towards decentralization,
the Swedish government intended such decisions to be made locally at each institute
of higher learning. However, now, in 2016, no local decision at Uppsala University
concerning languages can be found. We have returned to the beginning more than
half a millennium ago, when language choice was so obvious that it did not have
to be regulated.
As a rule of thumb we can say that teaching today at the Faculty of Science and
Technology of Uppsala University is in Swedish up to the Bachelor level, and in
English after that, at the Master and PhD level. A majority of the PhD students at
this faculty cannot speak Swedish, and this is also true for several of the professors.
Concerning the language situation in higher education in Sweden during recent
years, see, e.g., Kiselman (2001a, 2001b); a report to the Swedish Government
called Mål i mun ‘Spe ech’ (Kommittén för svenska språket 2002); and Gunnarsson
(2004).
13 Is the choice of language important?
It is time to ask about the real importance of language choice in mathematics and
other sciences. Maybe the question should have been asked already at the start of
this paper—but if so at the risk of the whole subject being immediately abandoned.
For a wider discussion, see Gordin (2015), for example about Mendelev’s periodic
system, and the review of Gordin’s book by Ammon (2015).
A language can serve to reach out to others, but also to exclude some—maybe
in a clever combination. Richard von Krat-Ebing (1840–1902) published in 1886
a book, Psychopathia Sexualis, with an unusual choice of language for the epoch:
Although first published in Latin—to reach a medical audience while at the same
time discouraging adolescents looking for sensational literature—the textbook none-
theless attracted a flock of readers, presumably artists and scientists who were
willing to put the Latin they had learned in gymnasium to use for the first time.
(Kandel 2012:41–42)
In mathematics, language is clearly less important than in the humanities: terms
have a precise denotation given by an explicit definition and usually have no or few
connotations and nuances. Moreover, formulas form a kind of scaolding providing
support to the words.
Nevertheless, let me illustrate the importance of language choice by two exam-
ples, although not pointing in the same direction.
That choice of language can have consequences is manifestly illustrated by the
fate of the treatise presented on 1797 March 10 by Caspar Wessel (1745–1818) at
the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences. The title is, in Danish: Om Directionens
analytiske Betegning, et Forsøg anvendt fornemmelig til plane och sphæriske Poly-
goners Opløsning. It was later published in Danish in 1798, 1799 and 1896. The
first publication in any other language appeared in 1897, in French: Essai sur la
représentation analytique de la direction. A publication in English followed: Wessel
(1999), accompanied by analyses by Bodil Branner, Nils Voje Johansen and Kirsti
Andersen.
128 Christer Oscar Kiselman Normat 2/2013
In his treatise Wessel described, for the first time eve r, the complex plane, but
we do not call this plane the Wesselian plane —we call it the Gaussian plane,
since Johann Carl Friedrich Gauß (1777–1855) is generally known for this inven-
tion/discovery. Another name is the Argand diagram or the Argand plane, named
for Jean-Robert Argand (1768–1822).
After two centuries, Wessel has received full credit, but had he published in
Latin or German, he would certainly have received it earlier.
Another case is that of distribution theory, a most important tool in the theory
of partial dierential equations and also a brilliant theory in its own right. Laurent
Schwartz (1915–2002) is known as the creator of this extremely successful theory.
However, the first to define and use distributions was Serge˘ı L
Õ
vovi Sobolev (1908–
1989), who did so in an article in 1936. His definition and the results based on this
received only a minuscule me ntion in a footnote in Schwartz’s famous book (1966:3,
footnote 4). Similarly, Lars Hörmander (1931–2012), in his influential books, did
not give proper credit to Sobolev’s definition, nor to his results (Hörmander 1963:1,
1983:53, 1990:53). For further comments see my article (2007).
Sobolev’s 1936 article was published in French.
14 Conclusion
In the doctoral dissertations we have considered, French and German coexisted
during 28 years, 1909–1936. The periods of transition from Swedish to French, and
from German to English were quite short.
If we disregard only one exceptionally late do ctoral thesis in Swedish and only
one exceptionally early thes is in English, the theses presented since 1870 are group ed
with quite small overlaps, except for French and German as already mentioned. The
first thesis in French presented by someone who had got his education in Uppsala
came in 1905, while the next to last in Swedish was defended in 1907, resulting in a
transition perio d of just three years, 1905–1907. The years 1944–1953 constitute a
short transition period from German to English. One could argue that the last two
theses written in German were special, and if so, we have an even shorter period
of transition, 1944–1945, from the second thesis in English in 1944 to the third to
last thesis in German in 1945.
Diplomas had been issued with the title Doctor already in the 1850s, but the
Swedish state ocially established the Doctor Degree in the sciences only in 1870.
The state allowed theses outside the field of New European Linguistics to be
written in German, English or French in 1908; neverthelss five theses in French
were accepted during the years 1892–1905.
When only Latin and Swedish were allowed in theses, Uppsala mathematicians
could during many years reach audiences in other countries by publishing in the
Nova acta Regiæ Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis of the Royal Society of Sciences
of Uppsala.
In Acta Mathematica Swedish mathematicians published both in French and
German during the period 1882–1947. Four Swedish authors in Acta Mathematica
switched from German to French during the 1880s. Since 1953, Swedish mathe-
maticians publish almost e xclusively in English in Acta Mathematica.
Normat 2/2013 Christer Oscar Kiselman 129
Acknowledgments
Carl-Gustav Esseen (1918–2001) and Matts Essén (1932–2003) kindly granted me
interviews. Matts also commented on the manuscript, as did Yngve Domar (1928–
2014). Britt-Louise Gunnarsson encouraged the project. More recently, Carl
Frängsmyr has helped me with the history of Uppsala University. Erik Bohlin in-
formed me on theses in Latin and sent me his booklet (2015). Reinhard Siegmund-
Schultze, Seidon Alsaody, and Arild Stubhaug sent important comments to ear-
lier versions, and Staan Rodhe informed me about Duhre and Eneström. An
anonymous referee provided several suggestions, which made me broaden the pre-
sentation. Marie Mosshammar and Frida de Verdier were most helpful in digging
up documents in Uppsala University Library. Finally, Michael D. Gordin sent me
constructive criticism and important comments, which led to several clarifications.
For all this help I am most grateful.
Higher education ordinances 1852–2015
1852. Kongl. Maj:ts Nådiga Statuter för Universiteterna i Upsala och Lund.GifnaStockholms
Slott den 2 april 1852 [Royal Statute for the Universities in Uppsala and Lund.Promulgated
at Sto ckholm Palace on 1852 April 02]. Swensk Författnings-Samling 1852:20.
1870. Kongl. Maj:ts Nådiga Skrifwelse till Cancellers-Embetet för Universiteten i Upsala och
Lund, angående förändrade föreskrifter i afseende den Philosophiska graden m.m. Stock-
holms Slott den 16 April 1870 [Royal Writ to the Oce of the Chancellor for the Universities
in Uppsala and Lund, concerning changed instructions relating to the Philosophical degree
etc. Stockholm Palace on 1870 April 16]. Swensk Författnings-Samling 1870:32.
1876. Kongl. Maj:ts förnyade nådiga statuter för universiteten i Upsala och Lund.Stockholms
slott den 10 Januari 1876 [Renewed Royal Statute for the Universities in Uppsala and Lund.
Sto ckholm Palace on 1876 January 10]. Svensk Författnings-samling 1876:5.
1891. Kongl. Maj:ts nådiga kungörelse angående ändringar i vissa paragrafer af universitets-
statuterna.Stockholmsslottden17april1891[Royal Writ concerning amendments to some
articles of the University Statute.StockholmPalace1891April17].SvenskFörfattnings-
samling 1891:13.
1908. Kongl. Maj:ts nådiga statuter för universiteten i Uppsala och Lund. Stockholms slott den
27 november 1908 [Royal Statute for the Universities in Uppsala and Lund.Stockholm
Palace on 1908 November 27]. Svensk författnings-samling 1908:135.
1916. Kongl. Maj:ts nådiga statuter för universiteten i Uppsala och Lund. Stockholms slott den
28 januari 1916 [Royal Statute for the Universities in Uppsala and Lund.StockholmPalace
on 1916 January 28]. Svensk författnings-samling 1916:66.
1956. Kungl. Maj:ts universitetsstatuter.StockholmsSlottden6april1956[Royal Statute for
the universities.StockholmPalaceon1956April06].Svenskförfattningssamling1956:117.
1964. Kungl. Maj:ts stadga för universiteten och vissa gskolor (universitetsstadgan).Stock-
holms slott den 4 juni 1964 [Royal Statute for the Universities and Certain University
Colleges (The University Statute)]. Stockholm Palace on 1964 June 04. Svensk förfat-
tningssamling 1964:461.
1969. Kungl. Maj:ts kungörelse om ändring i kun görelsen den 28 mars 1969 (nr 50) om utbildning
vid de filosofiska fakulteterna.Stockholmsslottden23maj1969[Royal Ordinance on
Changes in the Ordinance of 1969 March 28 on Education at the Faculties of Philosophy.
Sto ckholm Palace on 1969 May 23]. Svensk författningssamling 1969:327.
1977. gskoleförordning [Higher Education Ordinance]. Svensk författningssamling 1977:263.
1993. gskoleförordning [Higher Education Ordinance]. Svensk författningssamling 1993:100.
(This ordinance was amended 109 times up to 2016 March 28; the latest amendments up to
2018 May 09 are in Svensk författningssamling 2017:1326.)
130 Christer Oscar Kiselman Normat 2/2013
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