# Gahn

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Not to be confused with [McGahn](/source/McGahn) or [Gahan](/source/Gahan) or [Ghan](/source/Ghan_(disambiguation)) or [Gan](/source/Gan_(disambiguation)).

**Gahn** is a [Swedish](/source/Sweden) family from [Falun](/source/Falun),[1][2] one member of which was ennobled in 1809 with the name *Gahn af Colquhoun*. The family has claimed an unverified origin in a Scottish family Colquhoun, a claim which was confirmed 1781 in a letter by the [Lord Lyon King of Arms](/source/Lord_Lyon_King_of_Arms), but on dubious grounds, as later research has shown. A claim that the Swedish noble family *Canonhielm* is a branch of this family has also been shown to lack genealogical substance.

Notable members of the family include:

- [Johan Gottlieb Gahn](/source/Johan_Gottlieb_Gahn) (1745–1818), chemist and mineralogist who discovered [manganese](/source/Manganese) in 1774, and after whom the mineral [gahnite](/source/Gahnite) was named.
- [Henrik Gahn](/source/Henrik_Gahn_(1747%E2%80%931816)) (1747–1816), physician and student of [Linnaeus](/source/Carl_Linnaeus), who pioneered the use of [vaccine](/source/Vaccine) against [smallpox](/source/Smallpox) in Sweden in 1803.
- [Carl Pontus Gahn, ennobled with the name *Gahn af Colquhoun*](/source/Carl_Pontus_Gahn_af_Colquhoun) (1759–1825), military officer who participated in the war in Finland in 1788–1789, the campaign in Norway in 1808 and the invasion of Norway in 1814. He became major-general in 1814 and president of the [Court-Martial of Appeal](/source/Court-Martial_of_Appeal_(Sweden)) in 1824.
- [Henrik Gahn](/source/Henrik_Gahn_(1820%E2%80%931874)) (1820–1874), chemist and industrialist, who invented the first [antiseptics](/source/Antiseptic) to be used in Sweden, which he named *aseptin* and *amykos*. In 1867 he founded the company [Henrik Gahns AB](/source/Henrik_Gahns_AB), sold in 1964 to [Barnängen](/source/Barn%C3%A4ngen) (the latter was bought and is now a brand owned by [Henkel Norden AB](/source/Henkel)). The brand *Gahns* was sold to a different company and is still used for hygiene products in Sweden and the other [Nordic countries](/source/Nordic_countries).
- [Henrik Gahn](/source/Henrik_Gahn_(1820%E2%80%931901)) (1820–1901), industrialist and politician, member of the Burghers' Estate of the [Swedish parliament](/source/Parliament_of_Sweden) 1856–1866, and of the First Chamber of the new two-chamber parliament 1874–1892.
- [Wolter Gahn](/source/Wolter_Gahn) (1890–1985), architect, modernist pioneer and co-author of the Swedish modernist manifesto *[acceptera](/source/Acceptera)* ("accept!", intentionally with a lowercase initial, 1931). He was one of the two men behind the new Government Chancery building (*Kanslihuset*) in [Stockholm](/source/Stockholm), completed in 1936, but designed earlier and in a classical style adapted to the context of the [Stockholm Old Town](/source/Gamla_stan).

## References

1. Hasselberg, Ylva (1998). [*Den sociala ekonomin: familjen Clason och Furudals bruk 1804-1856*](https://books.google.com/books?id=OWFlAAAAIAAJ&q=gahn+sl%C3%A4kt) (in Swedish). S. Acacdemie Ubsalinsis. p. 77. ISBN 978-91-554-4258-3.

1. Lewin, Leif (1973). [*Statskunskapen, ideologierna och den politiska verkligheten*](https://books.google.com/books?id=nY8XAQAAMAAJ&q=gahn+sl%C3%A4kt). Rabén & Sjögren. p. 89. ISBN 978-91-29-40333-6.

- *[Nordisk familjebok](/source/Nordisk_familjebok)*, Vol. 9 (1908), col. [563–565](https://runeberg.org/nfbi/0300.html)
- *Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon*, Vol. 1, p. [378 f](https://runeberg.org/sbh/a0378.html)
- *Svenskt biografiskt lexikon*, Vol. 16, p. 728–740.

## Further reading

- Jäderlund, Ivan Waldemar Paulus (1939). [*Släkten Gahn*](https://books.google.com/books?id=dpXdMAAACAAJ) (in Swedish)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gahn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gahn) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gahn?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.