Johan Berger Mathiesen (13 November 1872[1][2] – 17 January 1923)[3][4] was a Norwegian-born doctor and surgeon who worked for most of his adult life in Wisconsin, United States.
Johan Berger Mathiesen | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 13, 1872 |
| Died | January 17, 1923 (aged 50) Eau Claire, Wisconsin, U.S. |
Mathiesen was born in Drammen, Norway, as the son of Colonel Thomas Mathiesen (1832–1922) and Karen Marie Berger (1849–1914).[5] After finishing his degree in medicine at the university of Kristiania in 1898, he immigrated to America in spring 1900.[6] He settled down in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and lived there for the remainder of his life except for a period in 1902–1905.[7]
Once in Eau Claire, he teamed up with Norwegian-born doctor and surgeon Hans Christian Midelfart (1865–1937). Mathiesen and Midelfart soon came to be regarded as two of the "leading surgeons" of the American Northwest;[8] they appear to have been among the first doctors in the USA who emphasized the importance of specialization among doctors.[9] From 1908 they worked as surgeons at the then newly-founded Luther Hospital in Eau Claire.[10]
Mathiesen died of pneumonia in January 1923 at the age of 50. His death resulted in large headlines in several Wisconsin newspapers at the time.[11]
Personal life
editMathiesen was married to Norwegian-born Augusta Y. Selmer (1878–1923) in 1903. The couple had four children: Anna Augusta (1904, later wife of engineer Odd Dahl), Erling Selmer (1906), Birgit (1908, mother of sociologist Thomas Mathiesen) and John Thomas (1916).[12] Since both Johan Berger and his wife died within months of each other in 1923, the children became orphans at an early age.
References
edit- ^ The Eau Claire Leader, 18 January 1923. 1923-01-18. p. 7.
- ^ Studentene fra 1890: biografiske opplysninger samlet til 25-årsjubilæet 1915 (Grøndahl, Oslo, 1915), p. 165.
- ^ The Eau Claire Leader, 18 January 1923. 1923-01-18. p. 7.
- ^ Morgenbladet, 20 February 1923, p. 6.
- ^ Mathiesen, Thomas: Cadenza. A Professional Autobiography (European Group Press), pp. 47–54.
- ^ Studentene fra 1890: biografiske opplysninger samlet til 25-årsjubilæet 1915 (Grøndahl, Oslo, 1915), p. 165.
- ^ Studentene fra 1890: biografiske opplysninger samlet til 25-årsjubilæet 1915 (Grøndahl, Oslo, 1915), p. 165.
- ^ The Post-Crescent, 10 May 1923, p. 3.
- ^ "Chippewa Valley Museum – Midelfart, Dr. Hans Christian". chippepedia.org. Retrieved 2019-07-10.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, 13 July 2005, p. 13: «Twenty-six of the first 38 patients were those of Dr. Christian Midelfart and Dr. Johan Mathiesen . . .»
- ^ The Eau Claire Leader, 18. januar 1923. 1923-01-18. s. 7.
- ^ Mathiesen, Thomas: Cadenza. A Professional Autobiography (European Group Press), pp. 47–54.