Obituary: Anders Baerheim Svendsen, 1920-2004

Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, Jan/Feb 2005 by Karlsen, Jan

Anders Baerheim Svendsen passed away October 2, 2004, at the age of 84. Svendsen graduated from the University of Oslo in 1946 as a pharmacist and began his scientific career as research assistant at the Institute of Pharmacy. He received his PhD in 1955 from the University of Oslo after the defense of his thesis "Zur Chemie Norwegischer Umbelliferae." After Baerheim Svendsen's sabbatical years at the laboratory of Brochmann-Hanssen at the University of California, San Francisco, where he developed numerous GC methods for the separation of drugs, alkaloids and terpenes, he decided to focus his interest on the separation of the constituents of essential oils. He was then working as assistant professor at the Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Oslo. In 1965, he became full professor in Pharmacognosy at the Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, The Netherlands. There, he initiated and organized a new department for the investigation of natural products focusing on the use of Chromatographie techniques and instrumentation. His department of pharmacognosy in Leiden soon became a meeting point for scientists from many countries. When Baerheim Svendsen retired from his position in Leiden, he continued his research at the laboratory of his former student, Jan Karlsen at the University of Oslo.

The analysis of volatile constituents of plant material became one of his main interests for the remaining years of his career. Together with his colleagues, Baerheim Svendsen published more than 300 papers and several books. His last manuscript was finalized in August 2004. Together with three scientists, Kubeczka, Hefendehl and Karlsen, he initiated annual meetings of scientists interested in essential oil research in 1969. These meetings have grown into an annual symposium. The last one, ISEO 2004, was held in Taormina, Sicily in September 2004 with more than 300 global participants.

One can truly say that the initiative of Baerheim Svendsen has carried on successfully. He was president in "Gesellschaft für Arzneipflanzenforschung" 1984-1987. During his time in Leiden he had 20 PhD candidates; five of these are now professors (Labadie, Scheffer, Veqjoorte, Rasmussen and Karlsen). Baerheim Svendsen was a gentleman of science with a kind heart for his students and friends. Many scientists working in the field of essential oils will remember his never-ending energy and kind advice. Natural products were his main interest all his life, and he supported any initiative promoting sound investigations on plant material. At his home, he and his wife, Borghild, received a large number of visiting scientists. Anders was a true academician with interests in science, history, music and culture in general. Indirectly, Baerheim Svendsen, through his scientific work, gave inspiration to a large number of scientists who work with terpenes. Those of us who knew him will all miss his friendly smile and guidance.

Jan Karlsen

Department of Pharmaceutics

Faculty of Science

University of Oslo

Norway