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Discover›Medicine
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Niels Ryberg Finsen
Physician

Niels Ryberg Finsen

Famoose for

Developing light treatment for lupus vulgaris.

Light and skin · Concentrated light

Born
15 December 1860
Birthplace
Tórshavn
Died
24 September 1904

More people

Florence NightingaleHelping establish modern professional nursing.Alexander FlemingDiscovering penicillin’s antibacterial effect.Edward JennerDeveloping smallpox vaccination using material from cowpox.

Niels Ryberg Finsen

Niels Ryberg Finsen was a Faroese-born physician working in Denmark. His experiments with concentrated light established an early form of medical phototherapy.

Early life

Education

Attended schools in the Faroe Islands, Denmark and Iceland before studying medicine in Copenhagen.

Career

  1. 1890

    Medical graduation

    Completed his medical studies and worked in anatomy.

  2. 1893

    Research focus

    Left his university post to concentrate on experiments.

  3. 1896

    Finsen Institute

    Became its founding director.

Contributions

Light and skin

Published research on light’s effects on skin.

Concentrated light

Published work on its medical use.

Nobel Prize

Received the medicine prize for light treatment.

Beyond work

Illness and research

Continued working despite a chronic illness that severely limited his mobility.

Sources & photo creditBiography and career ↗Biographical references ↗

Original photograph. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.