Torsten Gårdlund: A Portrait

Abstract

Torsten Gårdlund was born in Stockholm on 23 February 1911 and he passed away in Lund in February 2003, two days before he would have celebrated his 92nd birthday.¹ He lived an eventful life and left behind a large output. His main contributions were made as an economic historian and biographer. In economic history he published standard works like Industrialismens samhälle (Industrial Society) (1942) and Svensk industri-finansiering under genombrottsskedet (Swedish Industrial Finance during the Breakthrough Phase) (1947). He also published several works on individual Swedish industrial companies. Gårdlund’s second great contribution was as a biographer, with standard works about leading Swedes, like Knut Wicksell, Marcus Wallenberg, Sr, Holger Crafoord and the ‘geniuses of failure’ (Ernest Thiel, Gustaf de Laval and William Olsson). Torsten Gårdlund also worked as an adviser in developing countries (in Tunisia and Morocco in the 1950s and 1960s) and he wrote three books on development problems. He was Professor of Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics 1947–1963 and Professor of International Economics in Lund 1965–1976.