# Herman Bernhard Lundborg > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Herman_Bernhard_Lundborg > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Herman_Bernhard_Lundborg.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Bernhard_Lundborg > Source revision: 1350920446 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Swedish physician (1868–1943) Herman Bernhard Lundborg Born (1868-04-07)April 7, 1868 Väse, Sweden Died May 9, 1943(1943-05-09) (aged 75) Östhammar, Sweden Alma mater Karolinska Institutet Uppsala University Medical career Field psychiatry neurology race biology Institutions State Institute of Racial Biology Research racial hygiene This article is part of a series on Eugenics Historical trajectory Ancient Jus trium liberorum Lex Papia Poppaea Jewish views on incest Incest in the Bible British eugenics Malthusian League Eugenic feminism Nazi eugenics "Racial hygiene" Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring Hereditary Health Court Lebensborn Romani Holocaust Aktion T4 Doctors' Trial US eugenics Slave breeding in the US Eugenics Survey of Vermont Oneida stirpiculture Immigration Act of 1924 US birth control movement Sterilization law in the United States Buck v. Bell Doe ex. rel. Tarlow v. District of Columbia Madrigal v. Quilligan Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital Skinner v. Oklahoma Stump v. Sparkman Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924 Canadian eugenics The Famous Five Sexual Sterilization Act French Eugenics Japanese eugenics Hispanic eugenics Mexican eugenics Swedish sterilization program (1906–1975) Peruvian sterilization program (1990–2000) Population planning in Singapore New eugenics He Jiankui affair Human genetic enhancement Religious response to assisted reproductive technology Pre-war academic proponents Bell Brigham Burbank Carrell Davenport Darwin (Leonhard) DeCourcy Ward von Ehrenfels Elderton Ellis Evang Fisher Fischer Galton Gates Goldscheid Grant Gruber Günther Guyer Haldane Hentschel Herseni Holmes Hrdlička Jennings Jordan Kang Key Kraepelin Laughlin Lenz Lewis London Magnussen Manuilă Mittmann Moreira Munro Nordau Osborn Pan Pearson (Karl) Perkins Pérez Ploetz Quetelet Rainer Relgis Ross Schallmayer Scharffenberg Serebrovsky Sergi Slater Southard Stoddard Taussig Terman Tesla Thorndike Vacher de Lapouge Verschuer Wiggam Yerkes Post-war academic remnants Agar Bell (Julia) Blacker Carl Carter Cattell Coleman Darlington Fleischman Garrett Glad Hardin Haldane Hanania Herndon Huxley Ingle Itzkoff José Figueredo Kallmann Kirkconnell Koch Laski Lederberg Lorenz Ludovici Lundman Lynn MacEachran Magnussen Miller Muller Murray Nijenhuis Nyborg Osborn Pearson (Roger) Pendell Pitt-Rivers Popenoe Rostand Savulescu Shapiro Shockley Verschuer Vining Jr. Weiss Pamphlets and manifestos Hereditary Genius (1869) Degeneration (1892–1893) Gallia (1895) "The Blood of the Nation" (1901/1910) Anticipations (1901) Varuna (1901) Heredity in Relation to Eugenics (1911) Daedalus (1924) La raza cósmica (1925) Marriage and Morals (1929) The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection (1930) "Charter for Rationalists" (1932) Man, the Unknown (1935) After Us (1936) "Eugenics manifesto" (1939) The Marching Morons (1951) Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins (1973) Organizations Without significant post-war activity ABCL Alberta Eugenics Board AASPIM AES Carnegie Institution for Science Carrel Foundation CSHL Co-operative Women's Guild EBNC ERO Fabian Society Galton Laboratory German Society for Racial Hygiene Gobineau Association Heredity Commission HBF Human Betterment League Immigration Restriction League INED IAAEE International Eugenics Conference IFEO Kaiser Wilhelm Institute Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry PAA Progressive League Race Betterment Foundation RHA Rockefeller Foundation State Institute for Racial Biology With significant post-war activity Annals of Eugenics (1954) CIS The Eugenics Review (1968) FREED HDF J. Soc. Political Econ. Stud. LCI Mankind Quarterly OpenPsych Project Prevention Repository for Germinal Choice Ulster Institute for Social Research Related Demographic engineering Dysgenics Fujimorism Genetic discrimination German anthropology History of eugenics Idiocracy Pedigree chart Political views of Bertrand Russell Political views of H. G. Wells Raymond Cattell bibliography Ronald Fisher bibliography Selective breeding History of science portal v t e **Herman Bernhard Lundborg** (April 7, 1868 – May 9, 1943) was a Swedish [physician](/source/Physician) and a [race biologist](/source/Scientific_racism). ## Biography Lundborg was born in [Väse](/source/V%C3%A4se), Sweden. He graduated in [medicine](/source/Medicine) at the [Karolinska Institutet](/source/Karolinska_Institutet) in 1895, and received his doctorate at the [Uppsala University](/source/Uppsala_University) in 1903. He also [habilitated](/source/Habilitation) there that year for [psychiatry](/source/Psychiatry) and [neurology](/source/Neurology), and in 1915 for [racial research](/source/Anthropology) and [racial biology](/source/Racial_biology).[1] For his doctoral [dissertation](/source/Dissertation), Lundborg researched one of the genetic [progressive myoclonus epilepsies](/source/Progressive_myoclonus_epilepsies) first described by [Heinrich Unverricht](/source/Heinrich_Unverricht) in 1891. Besides giving an account of the disease, he traced an affected family back to the 18th century, an analysis unique for that time.[1] He concluded that the family had genetically degenerated because of "unwise marriages".[2] The study has been described as "of considerable historic interest in [human genetics](/source/Human_genetics)".[3] Over the years, the form of epilepsy became known as the [Unverricht–Lundborg disease](/source/Unverricht%E2%80%93Lundborg_disease). He was on the editorial board of the *[Hereditas](/source/Hereditas)* journal, founded 1920, with the scope on genetics.[4] Lundborg was strongly involved with the ideology of [racial hygiene](/source/Racial_hygiene).[1] In the beginning of the 20th century, the idea that [eugenics](/source/Eugenics) could improve the biological basis of society was widely held by academics and lawmakers, particularly in northern Europe and the [United States](/source/Eugenics_in_the_United_States). In 1922 Sweden established a eugenic governmental agency, the [State Institute of Racial Biology](/source/Statens_institut_f%C3%B6r_rasbiologi), of which Lundborg was appointed as the head. Under his leadership, the institute began gathering copious statistics and photographs to map the racial make-up of about 100,000 Swedish people.[5][6] The Swedish writer [Maja Hagerman](/source/Maja_Hagerman) has written a biography on Herman Lundborg and made a documentary about his racial research in Laponia.[7][8] He died in [Östhammar](/source/%C3%96sthammar). ## Race biologist The pamphlet "Svenska Folktyper" by Herman Lundborg One of Lundborg’s most widely read works in racial biology was a study of Swedish conscripts together with Frans Josua Linders, *The racial characters of the Swedish nation* (1926). This work was regarded as his most important contribution as a race theorist, for which he later became notorious. He also wrote popular science works on the subject, including *Rasbiologi och rashygien* (1914; *Racial biology and racial hygiene*), *Svensk raskunskap* (1927; *Swedish racial science*), and *Västerlandet i fara* (1934; *The western world in danger*). Several were translated into German and some into English. His racial ideal was the Swedish *allmoge* (peasantry) and its descendants. An important part of his theories was based on [genealogy](/source/Genealogy). His research gained enormous impact and he attracted a large readership beyond the traditional academic discipline. In addition to writing, he travelled around with an exhibition about racial types and the characteristic appearances of different peoples, something that remained in public memory long after his death. "Our small people, which about a thousand years ago numbered only a fraction of the country’s present population, has continually increased. A large part has emigrated to all possible countries in Europe and other parts of the world and there contributed to raising culture. The good race we have inherited from a generous nature has nowhere denied itself." — Herman Lundborg, 27 October 1927[9] In March 1919, "The Swedish Folk Type Exhibition" opened at the [Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts](/source/Royal_Swedish_Academy_of_Fine_Arts) in Stockholm on Lundborg’s initiative and was compiled by Gaston Backman. The exhibition featured photographs of Swedes identified as belonging to the "nordic type", displayed alongside photographs of Sweden's national minorities namely, the [Roma](/source/Romanisael), and [Sámi](/source/S%C3%A1mi_people), as well as photographs of criminals and [vagabonds](/source/Vagabonds). The exhibition, which was supported by figures including [Sven Hedin](/source/Sven_Hedin), [Anders Zorn](/source/Anders_Zorn), and [Ellen Key](/source/Ellen_Key), became a public success and toured around Sweden.[10] On the Stockholm Exhibition 1930, Lundborg presented what he considered the latest findings on racial hygiene in the booth "Svea rike". The belief that the Swedish race was degenerating and that there was racial material in the population that had to be combated resulted, among other things, in the establishment of the State Institute for Racial Biology in 1922[11] as well as the introduction of sterilization legislation in 1934. However, enthusiasm and support for Lundborg’s activities declined over time, and when Lundborg retired in 1935 he was succeeded by [Gunnar Dahlberg](/source/Gunnar_Dahlberg), who significantly changed the institute’s focus toward research on hereditary diseases. [Forced sterilization](/source/Forced_sterilization) under the sterilization law was nevertheless carried out on an increasing scale until the mid-1950s, then declined before ending in 1976 when the sterilization law was abolished. Lundborg praised [Hitler](/source/Adolf_Hitler), and his research colleagues in Germany were influential racial experts. He developed methods for racial examination that were later used in [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany).[12] There he was regarded as a pioneer in racial biology and in 1936 was honored for his research with an honorary doctorate from [Heidelberg University](/source/Heidelberg_University).[13] ## Relatives and family Lundborg was the son of Herman Emanuel Lundborg (1834–1888), chief engineer at the Swedish State Railways and major in the Road and Water Construction Corps, and Maria Vilhelmina Löhman. The family originates from Valbo parish in [Gästrikland](/source/G%C3%A4strikland). The family name comes from the packing guild elder Erik Persson (1749–1819), born in the village of Alborga, active in the village of Lund and deceased in Gävle, who created the name after the villages he came from. Herman Lundborg had seven siblings, born in different places across the country due to their father's work in the [railway industry](/source/Railway_industry). The eldest brother Axel became a bookkeeper at the railway board, and the three sisters Elma, Maria, and Nanna became teachers. The brother Hjalmar worked as a principal at the lower secondary school in [Kramfors](/source/Kramfors), and the younger brother Ragnar was an editor. Herman Lundborg was first married from 1900 to the nurse Thyra Peterson (1868–1931) from Stockholm, and together they had two sons, Gunnar and Sune. His second marriage was entered into in 1936 with Maria Kristina (Maja) Holste (originally Isaksson) (1893–1968), who was of [Tornedalian Finnish](/source/Tornedalians) and [Sámi](/source/S%C3%A1mi_people) descent and born in [Soppero](/source/%C3%96vre_Soppero) in Jukkasjärvi Parish. With her, Herman already had a son, Allan, in 1927. The paternity was formally acknowledged only in 1935.[14] ## In the media In the novel ['The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared'](/source/The_Hundred-Year-Old_Man_Who_Climbed_Out_the_Window_and_Disappeared_(novel)) by the Swedish author Jonas Jonasson, dr. Lundborg is portraited in chapter 4. ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Enersen_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Enersen_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Enersen_1-2) [Enersen, Ole Daniel](/source/Ole_Daniel_Enersen). ["Herman Bernhard Lundborg"](http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2729.html). *[Who Named It?](/source/Who_Named_It%3F)*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Lundborg, H. B. (1903). "Die progressive Myoklonus-Epilepsie ([Unverricht](/source/Heinrich_Unverricht)'s Myoklonie)". 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Johns Hopkins University](/source/Johns_Hopkins_University). ["Myoclonic epilepsy of Unverricht and Lundborg"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?id=254800)[*[dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]. *[NCBI](/source/National_Center_for_Biotechnology_Information)*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Maria Björkman; Sven Widmalm (2010). "Selling eugenics: the case of Sweden". *Notes and Records of the Royal Society*. **64** (4): 379–400. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1098/rsnr.2010.0009](https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frsnr.2010.0009). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [21553636](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21553636). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [16786101](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:16786101). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Hagerman, M. A racial biologist in Laponia, in *Writing the North of the North : construction of images, confrontation of reality and location in the literary field = L'Écriture du Nord du Nord : construction d'images, confrontation au réel et positionnement dans le champ littéraire = Den Norden des Nordens (be-)schreiben: Bildkonstruktion, Wirklichkeitsbezug und Positionierung im literarischen Feld*. Bourguignon, Annie, Harrer, Konrad. Berlin. 29 November 2019. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-7329-0625-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-7329-0625-3). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [1138109494](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1138109494).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher)) CS1 maint: others ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_others)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** O'Mahony, Paul (2007-01-09). ["Sweden's 'dark legacy' draws crowds to museum"](http://www.thelocal.se/6041/20070109/). *[thelocal.se](/source/The_Local)*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Hagerman, Maja (2020). *Herman Lundborg Rätsel eines Rassenbiologen*. BWV Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag GmbH (1 Auflage ed.). Berlin. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-8305-3986-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-8305-3986-5). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [1140427053](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1140427053).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Hagerman, Maja (2016-02-24), [*Watch What Measures to Save a People? A film about Herman Lundborg, head of the Swedish State Institute for Race Biology. Online | Vimeo On Demand*](https://vimeo.com/ondemand/66847), retrieved 2020-11-06 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** [Hertzberg](#CITEREFHertzberg) harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHertzberg ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Harv_and_Sfn_template_errors)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Claes Lönegård: "Typiskt svenskt", Fokus nr 39, 27 September–3 October 2013, which in turn refers to Maja Hagerman’s book "Det rena landet" 1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["I samisk dikt gör historien ont"](https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2016/06/17/i-samisk-dikt-gor-historien-ont). *svenska.yle.fi* (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-04-02. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Hagerman, Maja (2015). *Käraste Herman: Rasbiologen Herman Lundborgs gåta*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-91-1-305947-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-91-1-305947-1). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Läkartidningen nr 5 2009 volym106"](https://web.archive.org/web/20221018111921/https://lakartidningen.se/wp-content/uploads/OldWebArticlePdf/1/11255/LKT0905s301_303.pdf) (PDF). Archived from [the original](https://lakartidningen.se/wp-content/uploads/OldWebArticlePdf/1/11255/LKT0905s301_303.pdf) (PDF) on 2022-10-18. Retrieved 2020-08-26. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["Herman Lundborg förblir en gåta"](http://www.fria.nu/artikel/121356). *Fria.Nu* (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-04-02. Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States Czech Republic Netherlands Norway Greece Sweden Vatican Israel Academics CiNii Scopus Leopoldina People Deutsche Biographie DDB Other IdRef Open Library 2 Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Herman Bernhard Lundborg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Bernhard_Lundborg) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Bernhard_Lundborg?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.