Oluf Dietrichson

Oluf Christian Dietrichson was born in Skogn on 3 May 1856. His father was the district physician Peter Wilhelm Krejdahl Dietrichson (1817–1895), and his brother Kristian Adolph Gustav Emil was the father of the polar aviator Leif Dietrichson. Oluf was therefore Leif’s paternal uncle. He belongs to the branch descending from Erasmus Dietrichson (1762–1844).

He grew up in Skogn and was a keen cyclist and skier. As a first lieutenant he founded Norway’s first cyclist company, after a French model. He was also the first chairman of the Trondhjems Velocipedklub, which was founded in 1885.

In 1888 he joined Fridtjof Nansen on the crossing of Greenland. He was 32 and was responsible for the meteorological measurements and the mapping. According to Wikipedia the expedition had six members: Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Dietrichson, Kristian Kristiansen Trana, Samuel Balto and Ole Nilsen Ravna. They set out from the east coast and reached the west coast in the autumn, and spent the winter there before going home in the spring of 1889.

Dietrichson later became a major general, and in 1918 he became commandant in Kristiansand. In 1936 he became the first honorary member of the Norwegian Polar Club. He died in Trondheim on 20 February 1942.