The Most Famous
PHYSICIANS from Sweden
This page contains a list of the greatest Swedish Physicians. The pantheon dataset contains 726 Physicians, 8 of which were born in Sweden. This makes Sweden the birth place of the 19th most number of Physicians behind Hungary, and Czechia.
Top 9
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Swedish Physicians of all time. This list of famous Swedish Physicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Allvar Gullstrand (1862 - 1930)
With an HPI of 69.70, Allvar Gullstrand is the most famous Swedish Physician. His biography has been translated into 67 different languages on wikipedia.
Allvar Gullstrand (5 June 1862 – 28 July 1930) was a Swedish ophthalmologist and optician.
2. Ulf von Euler (1905 - 1983)
With an HPI of 63.85, Ulf von Euler is the 2nd most famous Swedish Physician. His biography has been translated into 50 different languages.
Ulf Svante von Euler (7 February 1905 – 9 March 1983) was a Swedish physiologist and pharmacologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 for his work on neurotransmitters.
3. Arvid Carlsson (1923 - 2018)
With an HPI of 63.82, Arvid Carlsson is the 3rd most famous Swedish Physician. His biography has been translated into 49 different languages.
Arvid Carlsson (25 January 1923 – 29 June 2018) was a Swedish neuropharmacologist who is best known for his work with the neurotransmitter dopamine and its effects in Parkinson's disease. For his work on dopamine, Carlsson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000, together with Eric Kandel and Paul Greengard.
4. Thomas Bartholin (1616 - 1680)
With an HPI of 58.92, Thomas Bartholin is the 4th most famous Swedish Physician. His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.
Thomas Bartholin (; Latinized as Thomas Bartholinus; 20 October 1616 – 4 December 1680) was a Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian. He discovered the lymphatic system in humans and advanced the theory of refrigeration anesthesia, being the first to describe it scientifically. Thomas Bartholin came from a family that has become famous for its pioneering scientists, twelve of whom became professors at the University of Copenhagen. Three generations of the Bartholin family made significant contributions to anatomical science and medicine in the 17th and 18th centuries: Thomas Bartholin's father, Caspar Bartholin the Elder (1585–1629), his brother Rasmus Bartholin (1625–1698), and his son Caspar Bartholin the Younger (1655–1738). Thomas Bartholin's son Thomas Bartholin the Younger (1659–1690) became a professor of history at the University of Copenhagen and was later appointed royal antiquarian and secretary to the Royal Archives.
5. Hans Rosling (1948 - 2017)
With an HPI of 58.73, Hans Rosling is the 5th most famous Swedish Physician. His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.
Hans Rosling (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈhɑːns ˈrûːslɪŋ]; 27 July 1948 – 7 February 2017) was a Swedish physician, academic and public speaker. He was a professor of international health at Karolinska Institute and was the co-founder and chairman of the Gapminder Foundation, which developed the Trendalyzer software system. He held presentations around the world, including several TED Talks in which he promoted the use of data (and data visualization) to explore development issues. His posthumously published book Factfulness, coauthored with his daughter-in-law Anna Rosling Rönnlund and son Ola Rosling, became an international bestseller.
6. Torsten Wiesel (b. 1924)
With an HPI of 57.23, Torsten Wiesel is the 6th most famous Swedish Physician. His biography has been translated into 46 different languages.
Torsten Nils Wiesel (born 3 June 1924) is a Swedish neurophysiologist. With David H. Hubel, he received the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system; the prize was shared with Roger W. Sperry for his independent research on the cerebral hemispheres.
7. Olof Rudbeck the Younger (1660 - 1740)
With an HPI of 53.30, Olof Rudbeck the Younger is the 7th most famous Swedish Physician. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Olof Rudbeck the Younger or Olaus Rudbeckius d.y. (15 March 1660 – 23 March 1740) was a Swedish explorer, scientist, botanist, ornithologist and rector of Uppsala University.
8. Anders Tegnell (b. 1956)
With an HPI of 45.73, Anders Tegnell is the 8th most famous Swedish Physician. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.
Nils Anders Tegnell (born 17 April 1956) is a Swedish civil servant and physician specialising in infectious disease. From 2013 until his resignation in March 2022 he was Sweden's state epidemiologist.Tegnell had key roles in the Swedish response to the 2009 swine flu pandemic and COVID-19 pandemic. During the Covid pandemic in 2020, he became a divisive figure in Sweden and internationally due to his and the Public Health Agency of Sweden's opposition to lockdowns, travel restrictions and face masks for general use, which were widely adopted in most countries to curb the spread of the virus, as well as for his leading role in Sweden's controversial approach.
9. Anna Bågenholm (b. 1970)
With an HPI of 37.70, Anna Bågenholm is the 9th most famous Swedish Physician. Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Anna Elisabeth Johansson Bågenholm (born 1970) is a Swedish radiologist from Vänersborg, who survived after a skiing accident in 1999 left her trapped under a layer of ice for 80 minutes in freezing water. During this time she experienced extreme hypothermia and her body temperature decreased to 13.7 °C (56.7 °F), one of the lowest survived body temperatures ever recorded in a human with accidental hypothermia. Bågenholm was able to find an air pocket under the ice, but experienced circulatory arrest after 40 minutes in the water. After rescue, Bågenholm was transported by helicopter to the Tromsø University Hospital, where a team of more than a hundred doctors and nurses worked in shifts for nine hours to save her life. Bågenholm woke up ten days after the accident, paralyzed from the neck down and subsequently spent two months recovering in an intensive care unit. Although she has made an almost full recovery from the incident, late in 2009 she was still having minor symptoms in hands and feet related to nerve injury. Bågenholm's case has been discussed in the leading British medical journal The Lancet, and in medical textbooks.
People
Pantheon has 9 people classified as Swedish physicians born between 1616 and 1970. Of these 9, 3 (33.33%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Swedish physicians include Torsten Wiesel, Anders Tegnell, and Anna Bågenholm. The most famous deceased Swedish physicians include Allvar Gullstrand, Ulf von Euler, and Arvid Carlsson. As of April 2024, 1 new Swedish physicians have been added to Pantheon including Anna Bågenholm.
Living Swedish Physicians
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Torsten Wiesel
1924 - Present
HPI: 57.23
Anders Tegnell
1956 - Present
HPI: 45.73
Anna Bågenholm
1970 - Present
HPI: 37.70
Deceased Swedish Physicians
Go to all RankingsAllvar Gullstrand
1862 - 1930
HPI: 69.70
Ulf von Euler
1905 - 1983
HPI: 63.85
Arvid Carlsson
1923 - 2018
HPI: 63.82
Thomas Bartholin
1616 - 1680
HPI: 58.92
Hans Rosling
1948 - 2017
HPI: 58.73
Olof Rudbeck the Younger
1660 - 1740
HPI: 53.30
Newly Added Swedish Physicians (2024)
Go to all RankingsOverlapping Lives
Which Physicians were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 4 most globally memorable Physicians since 1700.
