Harald Næss

Harald Sigurd Næss (December 27, 1925 – February 5, 2017) was a Norwegian scholar of Scandinavian Studies and leading authority on the work of Nobel Prize-winning author Knut Hamsun. In the 1950s, he discovered 70 unknown letters by Hamsun and embarked on a life-long project to gather, study, and publish the late author's correspondence. He did so as Torger Thompson Professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Scandinavian Studies, an institution for which he was the "guiding force" from the early 1960s until his retirement in 1991.

Næss was President of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study (1967-1969) and Editor of ''Scandinavian Studies'' (1973-1977). Næss was also a popular speaker among heritage groups in the Upper Midwest, and in 1986, he was made Knight First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav for "his work in spreading knowledge about Norwegian language and culture in the United States of America." Provided by Wikipedia