Wallenberg family
The Wallenberg family is a prominent Swedish family renowned as bankers, politicians and diplomats. The Wallenbergs are present in most large Swedish industrial groups, like Ericsson, Electrolux, ABB, SAS Group, SKF, AIK, Atlas Copco and more. In the 1970s, the Wallenberg family businesses employed 40% of Sweden’s industrial workforce and represented 40% of the total worth of the Stockholm stock market; the most famous of the Wallenbergs, Raoul Wallenberg, a diplomat, worked in Budapest, during World War II to rescue Jews from the Holocaust. Between July and December 1944, he issued protective passports and housed Jews, saving tens of thousands of Jewish lives; the earliest known member of the Wallenberg family is Per Hansson who, in 1692, married Kerstin Jacobsdotter Schuut. Their son, Jakob Persson Wallberg married twice; the children of his first marriage called themselves Wallberg and those of his second called themselves Wallenberg. Jakob Persson Wallberg was the great-grandfather of André Oscar Wallenberg who, in 1856, founded Stockholms Enskilda Bank, the predecessor of today's Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken.
André Oscar Wallenberg's son Knut Agathon Wallenberg took over as CEO of Stockholms Enskilda Bank in 1886. Like many other Wallenberg relatives, Knut Agathon Wallenberg was involved in Swedish politics and diplomacy becoming Minister for Foreign Affairs 1914–1917, member of the Riksdags first chamber 1907–1919. In 1916, new legislation made it more difficult for banks to own shares in industrial companies on a long-term basis. Investor was formed as an investment part of Stockholms Enskilda Bank. Knut Agathon Wallenberg's younger brother Marcus Wallenberg carried on the tradition and took over as the bank's CEO in 1911, replacing his older brother, appointed Stockholms Enskilda Bank chairman of the board. Jacob Wallenberg, eldest son of Marcus Wallenberg, became the bank's CEO after Joseph Nachmanson died in 1927, joined by younger brother Marcus Wallenberg as the bank's deputy CEO. In 1938, Knut Agathon Wallenberg died, he had no children. Marcus Wallenberg was appointed Stockholms Enskilda Bank chairman of the board.
During the War the Bank collaborated with the German government. The Secretary of the US Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr. considered Jacob Wallenberg pro-German, the US subjected the Bank to a blockade, only lifted in 1947. The fourth generation of Wallenbergs joined the family business in 1953, including heir apparent Marc Wallenberg, eldest son of Marcus Wallenberg, who became a deputy CEO at Stockholms Enskilda Bank in 1953, before taking over as CEO in 1958. After a power struggle between Jacob Wallenberg and his younger brother Marcus Wallenberg, Jacob Wallenberg resigned from the board of directors in 1969; the resignation opened a seat on the bank's board of directors to Peter Wallenberg, younger son of Marcus Wallenberg. Marcus Wallenberg pushed through a merger agreement between Stockholms Enskilda Bank and rival Skandinaviska Banken in 1971. Soon after, tragedy struck when Marc Wallenberg committed suicide, observers suggested that the act came because Marc Wallenberg felt himself inadequate to the task of leading what was to become the Scandinavia banking giant Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken.
The merger went through in 1972. Marcus Wallenberg, younger son Peter Wallenberg, focused their interests on the family's investment companies and Providentia. Investor now became the family's new flagship business, under Marcus Wallenberg leadership began promoting the restructuring of most of the industrial companies under its control, replacing board members and promoting younger CEO and other management. Peter Wallenberg took over after Marcus Wallenberg death in 1982. For many outsiders, the change in leadership marked a final moment in the family's more than 100-year dominance of the Swedish banking and industrial sectors, yet Peter Wallenberg rose to guiding Investor and Sweden's industry into a new era. In 1990, it was estimated that the family indirectly controlled one-third of the Swedish Gross National Product. Peter Wallenberg stepped down from leadership of Investor in 1997. In 2006, the fifth generation took over the Wallenberg sphere. Marcus Wallenberg, son of Marc Wallenberg, Jacob Wallenberg and Peter Wallenberg both sons of Peter Wallenberg.
The Wallenbergs have a low-key public profile, eschewing conspicuous displays of wealth. The family motto is Esse, non Videri. Marcus Wallenberg Sr. adopted this motto when he became a Knight and Commander of the Royal Order of the Seraphim in 1931. The Wallenbergs business empire is referred to as the Wallenberg sphere, the Wallenberg sphere is a large group of companies where their investment company, Investor AB, or foundation asset management company, Foundation Asset Management, have the controlling interest. Marcus Wallenberg, priest Marcus Wallenberg, nephew of Jacob Wallenberg, bishop in Linköping. André Oscar Wallenberg, son of Marcus Wallenberg, naval officer, newspaper tycoon and politician. Knut Agathon Wallenberg, son of André Oscar Wallenberg and politician. Gustaf Wallenberg, son of André Oscar Wallenberg, diplomat. Raoul Oscar Wallenberg, son of Gustaf Wallenberg, naval officer. Raoul Wallenberg, son of Raoul Oscar Wallenberg, diplomat. Marcus Wallenberg Sr. son of André Oscar Wallenberg, banker and politician.
Sonja Emilie Wallenberg, dau
Train ferry
A train ferry is a ship designed to carry railway vehicles. One level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ferries are sometimes referred to as "car ferries", as distinguished from "auto ferries" used to transport automobiles; the wharf has a ramp, a linkspan or "apron", balanced by weights, that connects the railway proper to the ship, allowing for the water level to rise and fall with the tides. While railway vehicles can be and are shipped on the decks or in the holds of ordinary ships, purpose-built train ferries can be loaded and unloaded by roll-on/roll-off as several vehicles can be loaded or unloaded at once. A train ferry, a barge is called a car float or rail barge. An early train ferry was established as early as 1833 by the Kirkintilloch Railway. To extend the line over the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland, the company began operating a wagon ferry to transport the rolling stock over the canal.
In April 1836, the first railroad car ferry in the U. S. Susquehanna, entered service on the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland; the first modern train ferry was Leviathan, built in 1849. The Edinburgh and Newhaven Railway was formed in 1842 and the company wished to extend the East Coast Main Line further north to Dundee and Aberdeen; as bridge technology was not yet capable enough to provide adequate support for the crossing over the Firth of Forth, five miles across, a different solution had to be found for the transport of goods, where efficiency was key. The company hired the up-and-coming civil engineer Thomas Bouch who argued for a train ferry with an efficient roll-on roll-off mechanism to maximise the efficiency of the system. Custom-built ferries were to be built, with railway lines and matching harbour facilities at both ends to allow the rolling stock to drive on and off the boat. To compensate for the changing tides, adjustable ramps were positioned at the harbours and the gantry structure height was varied by moving it along the slipway.
The wagons were loaded off with the use of stationary steam engines. Although others had had similar ideas, it was Bouch who first put them into effect, did so with an attention to detail; this led a subsequent President of the Institution of Civil Engineers to settle any dispute over priority of invention with the observation that "there was little merit in a simple conception of this kind, compared with a work carried out in all its details, brought to perfection."The company was persuaded to install this train ferry service for the transportation of goods wagons across the Firth of Forth from Burntisland in Fife to Granton. The ferry itself was built by a partner of the firm Grainger and Miller; the service commenced on 3 February 1850. It was called "The Floating Railway" and intended as a temporary measure until the railway could build a bridge, but this was not opened until 1890, its construction delayed in part by repercussions from the catastrophic failure of Thomas Bouch's Tay Rail Bridge.
The largest train ferry built is MS Skåne on the Trelleborg-Rostock route, built in 1998, 200 meters long, 29 meters wide, with six tracks plus two on an elevator to the lower deck, having a total length of track of 1,110 meters. Train ferries sink because of sea hazards, although they have some weaknesses linked to the nature of transporting trains "on rail" on a ship; these weaknesses include: Trains are loaded at a rather high level, making the ship top-heavy. The train deck is difficult to compartmentalise, so that sloshing flood water can destabilise the ship; the sea doors where the trains go in and out are a weakness if placed at the rear of the ship. The train carriages need to be secured lest they break away and roll around on long, open-water routes; the Ann Arbor Railroad of Michigan developed a system of making cars secure, adopted by many other lines. Screw jacks were placed on the corners of the railcar and the car was raised to take its weight off of its wheels. Chains and turnbuckles were hooked onto the rails and tightened.
Clamps were placed behind the wheels on the rails. Deckhands engaged in continual tightening of the gear during the crossing; this system held the cars in place when the ship encountered rough weather. Some accidents have occurred at the slip during loading. Train ferries list when heavy cars are loaded onto a track on one side while the other side is empty. Normal procedure was to load half of a track on one side, all of the track on the other side, the rest of the original track. If this procedure was not followed, results could be disastrous. In 1909, SS Ann Arbor No. 4 capsized in its slip in Manistique, Michigan when a switching crew put eight cars of iron ore on its portside tracks. The crew got off without loss of life; the Japanese train ferry, Toya Maru, sank during typhoon Marie on 26 September 1954, killing more than a thousand. Four other train ferries, Seikan maru No.11, Kitami Maru, Tokachi Maru and Hidaka Maru sank on that day. At the time, Japanese train ferries did not have a rear sea-gate, because engineers believed that in-rushing water would flow out again and would not pose a danger.
However, when the frequency of waves bears the wrong relationship to the length of a ship, each wave arrives as the water f
Rjukan Line
The Rjukan Line, at first called the Vestfjorddal Line, was a 16-kilometre Norwegian railway line running through Vestfjorddalen between Mæl and Rjukan in Telemark. The railway's main purpose was to transport chemicals from Norsk Hydro's plant at Rjukan to the port at Skien, in addition to passenger transport. At Mæl the wagons were shipped 30 kilometres on the Tinnsjø railway ferry to Tinnoset where they connected to the Tinnoset Line; the Rjukan Line and the ferries were operated by a subsidiary of Norsk Hydro. Construction of the line started in 1907, it opened two years later, it became the second Norwegian railway to be electrified in 1911. It experienced heavy growth, had fifteen electric locomotives in use. During World War II it was the scene of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage. After the 1960s production declined, the railway was closed in 1991, it was kept as a heritage railway. The Telemark power-based industry started in 1902 when Sam Eyde, along with Norwegian and Swedish investors, bought Rjukan Falls—establishing A/S Rjukanfos on 30 April 1903.
The same year, on 13 February and Kristian Birkeland had met and started working on refining the electric arc to produce an electric flame. On 19 December 1903 Det Norske Kvælstofkompagni was founded, followed by Det Norske Aktieselskap for Eletrokemisk Industri in 1904; the test plant in Notodden started operation on 2 May 1905 as the first in the world to produce synthetic potassium nitrate. On 2 December 1905 Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk Kvælstofaktieselskab was founded, plans to start a new plant in Rjukan were initialized. Rjukanfos applied for permission to build a power line from Rjukan to Notodden, but on 18 June 1907 the Norwegian Parliament did not accept the application, despite an offer from Eyde that the state would receive escheat after eighty years, in part because the state would have to guarantee 18 million kr for the project. In the mean time the issue of a pure industrial versus a general purpose railway line had stirred local protests, since Norsk Hydro had indicated they were not interested in building a railway to serve the general public.
At the time it was common that lines built for single-company freight transport would involve the subsidized operation of passenger and general cargo trains, at the expense of the railway owner. Heavy local protests were transmitted to parliament in 1906, but by the next year an agreement was made for the construction of a general purpose line. On 13 April 1907 Norsk Hydro and the German group Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik made an agreement for the creation of the factory at Rjukan, Rjukan Salpeterfabrik, at the same time created Norsk Transportaktieselskap—both companies were owned as 50/50 joint ventures. Norsk Transport received a concession to build—with necessary expropriations and operate a railway for thirty years on 17 July 1907; the companies had a stock equity of NOK 34 million. By the time the concession was given construction of the railway had started. At the most 2,000 workers were involved in the construction of the plant, the Rjukan Line, the Tinnoset Line; this was in a new potassium nitrate factory in Notodden.
During the construction one worker lost his life in a landslide. Housing was provided in simple barracks, few laborers came with family. Prostitution and the sale of illegal liquor during the prohibition flourished; the Rjukan Line was built with a maximum gradient of 1.5%. In addition to the line to the plant, a branch line went to the hydroelectric power station at Vemork. Construction in Vestfjorddalen was led by Sigurd Kloumann. During May 1908 the workers were not being paid enough, took to a strike on 6 June; as a consequence Norsk Hydro became a member of Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise. Negotiations were conducted in August, but failed—not until Minister of Labour Nils Claus Ihlen meddled and Sam Eyde pulled Norsk Hydro out of NAF and reduced his demands did the strike end, on 6 October. Laying of the tracks started during the fall of 1908, on 18 February 1909 the first train from Notodden to Vestfjorddalen ran; the official opening of the line from Notodden to Rjukan occurred on 9 August, performed by King Haakon VII—despite the mayor of Tinn referring to the monarch as "the Swidish King Oscar II".
The line was operated by steam locomotives, however the cost of steam power was large. The Rjukan Line became the second electrified railway in Norway, after the Thamshavn Line, the first that would be connected to the main railway network; the first electric locomotive was taken into operation on 30 November 1911. Because only some of the locomotives were delivered, steam locomotive had to help with the service; because of insufficient safety routines there were several fatalities among employees, not until 1922 was sufficient policy initiated. In 1907 the fir
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy, collected from renewable resources, which are replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, rain, tides and geothermal heat. Renewable energy provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation and water heating/cooling and rural energy services. Based on REN21's 2017 report, renewables contributed 19.3% to humans' global energy consumption and 24.5% to their generation of electricity in 2015 and 2016, respectively. This energy consumption is divided as 8.9% coming from traditional biomass, 4.2% as heat energy, 3.9% from hydroelectricity and the remaining 2.2% is electricity from wind, solar and other forms of biomass. Worldwide investments in renewable technologies amounted to more than US$286 billion in 2015. Globally, there are an estimated 7.7 million jobs associated with the renewable energy industries, with solar photovoltaics being the largest renewable employer. Renewable energy systems are becoming more efficient and cheaper and their share of total energy consumption is increasing.
As of 2015 worldwide, more than half of all new electricity capacity installed was renewable. Growth in consumption of coal and oil could end by 2020 due to increased uptake of renewables and natural gas. At the national level, at least 30 nations around the world have renewable energy contributing more than 20 percent of energy supply. National renewable energy markets are projected to continue to grow in the coming decade and beyond; some places and at least two countries and Norway, generate all their electricity using renewable energy and many other countries have the set a goal to reach 100% renewable energy in the future. At least 47 nations around the world have over 50 percent of electricity from renewable resources. Renewable energy resources exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to fossil fuels, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies is resulting in significant energy security, climate change mitigation, economic benefits.
In international public opinion surveys there is strong support for promoting renewable sources such as solar power and wind power. While many renewable energy projects are large-scale, renewable technologies are suited to rural and remote areas and developing countries, where energy is crucial in human development; as most of renewable energy technologies provide electricity, renewable energy deployment is applied in conjunction with further electrification, which has several benefits: electricity can be converted to heat, can be converted into mechanical energy with high efficiency, is clean at the point of consumption. In addition, electrification with renewable energy is more efficient and therefore leads to significant reductions in primary energy requirements, because most renewable energy technologies do not need a thermodynamic cycle with high losses. Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, tides, plant growth, geothermal heat, as the International Energy Agency explains: Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly.
In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, ocean, biomass, geothermal resources, biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources. Renewable energy resources and significant opportunities for energy efficiency exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency, technological diversification of energy sources, would result in significant energy security and economic benefits, it would reduce environmental pollution such as air pollution caused by burning of fossil fuels and improve public health, reduce premature mortalities due to pollution and save associated health costs that amount to several hundred billion dollars annually only in the United States. Renewable energy sources, that derive their energy from the sun, either directly or indirectly, such as hydro and wind, are expected to be capable of supplying humanity energy for another 1 billion years, at which point the predicted increase in heat from the sun is expected to make the surface of the earth too hot for liquid water to exist.
Climate change and global warming concerns, coupled with high oil prices, peak oil, increasing government support, are driving increasing renewable energy legislation and commercialization. New government spending and policies helped the industry weather the global financial crisis better than many other sectors. According to a 2011 projection by the International Energy Agency, solar power generators may produce most of the world's electricity within 50 years, reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases that harm the environment; as of 2011, small solar PV systems provide electricity to a few million households, micro-hydro configured into mini-grids serves many more. Over 44 million households use biogas made in household-scale digesters for lighting and/or cooking, more than 166 million households rely on a new generation of more-efficient biomass cookstoves. United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that renewable energy has the ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity.
At the national level, at least 30 nations around the world have renewable energy contributing more than 20% of energy supply. Na
Petroleum
Petroleum is a occurring, yellowish-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earth's surface. It is refined into various types of fuels. Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation, i.e. separation of a liquid mixture into fractions differing in boiling point by means of distillation using a fractionating column. It consists of occurring hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and may contain miscellaneous organic compounds; the name petroleum covers both occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil. A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms zooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary rock and subjected to both intense heat and pressure. Petroleum has been recovered by oil drilling. Drilling is carried out after studies of structural geology, sedimentary basin analysis, reservoir characterisation have been completed, it is refined and separated, most by distillation, into a large number of consumer products, from gasoline and kerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to make plastics and pharmaceuticals.
Petroleum is used in manufacturing a wide variety of materials, it is estimated that the world consumes about 95 million barrels each day. The use of petroleum as fuel is controversial due to its impact on global warming and ocean acidification. Fossil fuels, including petroleum, need to be phased out by the end of 21st century to avoid "severe and irreversable impacts for people and ecosystems", according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; the word petroleum comes from Medieval Latin petroleum, which comes from Latin petra', "rock", Latin oleum, "oil". The term was used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in 1546 by the German mineralogist Georg Bauer known as Georgius Agricola. In the 19th century, the term petroleum was used to refer to mineral oils produced by distillation from mined organic solids such as cannel coal, refined oils produced from them. Petroleum, in one form or another, has been used since ancient times, is now important across society, including in economy and technology.
The rise in importance was due to the invention of the internal combustion engine, the rise in commercial aviation, the importance of petroleum to industrial organic chemistry the synthesis of plastics, solvents and pesticides. More than 4000 years ago, according to Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, asphalt was used in the construction of the walls and towers of Babylon. Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river Issus, one of the tributaries of the Euphrates. Ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society; the use of petroleum in ancient China dates back to more than 2000 years ago. In I Ching, one of the earliest Chinese writings cites that oil in its raw state, without refining, was first discovered and used in China in the first century BCE. In addition, the Chinese were the first to use petroleum as fuel as early as the fourth century BCE. By 347 AD, oil was produced from bamboo-drilled wells in China. Crude oil was distilled by Arabic chemists, with clear descriptions given in Arabic handbooks such as those of Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi.
The streets of Baghdad were paved with tar, derived from petroleum that became accessible from natural fields in the region. In the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in the area around Azerbaijan; these fields were described by the Arab geographer Abu al-Hasan'Alī al-Mas'ūdī in the 10th century, by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads. Arab and Persian chemists distilled crude oil in order to produce flammable products for military purposes. Through Islamic Spain, distillation became available in Western Europe by the 12th century, it has been present in Romania since the 13th century, being recorded as păcură. Early British explorers to Myanmar documented a flourishing oil extraction industry based in Yenangyaung that, in 1795, had hundreds of hand-dug wells under production. Pechelbronn is said to be the first European site where petroleum has been used; the still active Erdpechquelle, a spring where petroleum appears mixed with water has been used since 1498, notably for medical purposes.
Oil sands have been mined since the 18th century. In Wietze in lower Saxony, natural asphalt/bitumen has been explored since the 18th century. Both in Pechelbronn as in the coal industry dominated the petroleum technologies. Chemist James Young noticed a natural petroleum seepage in the Riddings colliery at Alfreton, Derbyshire from which he distilled a light thin oil suitable for use as lamp oil, at the same time obtaining a more viscous oil suitable for lubricating machinery. In 1848, Young set up a small business refining the crude oil. Young succeeded, by distilling cannel coal at a low heat, in creating a fluid resembling petroleum, which when treated in the same way as the seep oil gave similar products. Young found that by sl
Norsk Hydro Rjukan
Norsk Hydro Rjukan is an industrial facility operated by Norsk Hydro at Rjukan in Tinn, from 1911 to 1991. The plant manufactured chemicals related to the production of fertilizer potassium nitrate from arc-produced nitric acid and ammonia and heavy water; the location was chosen for its vicinity to hydroelectric power plants built in the Måna river. 30 million tonnes of products, equivalent of 1.5 million wagon loads, were produced in Rjukan. After the closing parts of the plants and the railway have been preserved; the Telemark power-based industry adventure started in 1902 when Sam Eyde, along with Norwegian and Swedish investors, bought Rjukan Falls—establishing A/S Rjukanfos on 30 April 1903. The same year, on 13 February and Kristian Birkeland had met and started working on refining the electric arc to produce an electric flame. On 19 December 1903 Det Norske Kvælstofkompagni was founded, followed by Det Norske Aktieselskap for Eletrokemisk Industri in 1904; the test plant for the Birkeland–Eyde process in Notodden started operation on 2 May 1905 as the first in the world to produce synthetic potassium nitrate.
On 2 December 1905 Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk Kvælstofaktieselskab was founded, plans to start a new plant in Rjukan were initialized. Rjukanfos applied for permission to build a power line from Rjukan to Notodden, but on 18 June 1907 the Norwegian Parliament did not accept the application—despite an offer from Eyde that the state would receive escheat after eighty years—in part because the state would have to guarantee NOK 18 million for the project. On 13 April 1907 Norsk Hydro and the German group Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik made an agreement for the creation of the factory at Rjukan, Rjukan Salpeterfabrik, at the same time created Norsk Transportaktieselskap—both companies were owned as 50/50 joint ventures. Norsk Transport received concession on 17 July 1907 to operate a railway for thirty years; the companies had a stock equity of NOK 34 million. Construction of the plants at Rjukan would commence through two states; the initial plant would use both the Birkeland–Eyde furnace, the Schönherr furnace.
On 28 September 1911 BASF sold their ownership in the Rjukan plants to Norsk Hydro, the same year the first plant opened. Accompanying the plants was housing and public facilities for the workers. Norsk Hydro employed at the most 2,500 people during construction, many settled and took industrial jobs after the plants were finished; the main engineer for the constructions at Rjukan was Sigurd Kloumann, while the main architect was Thorvald Astrup. The first potassium nitrate was shipped out on 8 December 1911, two years the plants were making a profit. Production increased from 110,000 tonnes per year to 250,000 tonnes in 1915, after the plant had been expanded, up to 345,000 tonnes in 1917; the small hamlet of Rjukan had turned into a town, in 1920 there were 11,651 people in Tinn. The 1920s were a tough time, production decreased, but in 1929 the electric arc technology was replaced by the Haber process, with the intermediate ammonia being synthesized at Vemork and transported by rail and ferry to Herøya outside Porsgrunn on the coast, where limestone could be shipped in, finished fertilizer shipped out, reducing the tonnage from Tinn.
The ammonia plant was established at Rjukan in 1927, following a 1925 agreement between IG Farben of Germany, who transferred the Haber patents to Norsk Hydro in exchange for a quarter ownership, the distribution of the products through them. During the 1930s there was a global depression, Norsk Hydro make an alliance with IG Farben and Imperial Chemical Industries; this was followed by many lay-offs, not until 1938 was Norsk Hydro able to make a profit again. During the 1930s other products came into production, including hydrogen and other gases, from 1934 as the first plant in the world mass-produced heavy water, following a production plan by Leif Tronstad and Jomar Brun. After the end of the war Norsk Hydro had a strong liquidity, while the Green Revolution and increased industrialization of agriculture in Europe boomed the demand for the products. In 1957 five round trips had to be made by the new ferry MF Storegut each day, while the trains made nine round trips from Rjukan to Mæl. Norsk Hydro announced in 1963 a savings plan for its four plants in Norway.
The "Rjukan situation", as it was named in the press, became a source of conflict between the local community and Norsk Hydro. Permission for the construction of the
Norway
Norway the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe whose territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the kingdom. Norway lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land. Norway has a total area of 385,207 square kilometres and a population of 5,312,300; the country shares a long eastern border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, the Skagerrak strait to the south, with Denmark on the other side. Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the Barents Sea. Harald V of the House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway. Erna Solberg has been prime minister since 2013. A unitary sovereign state with a constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the parliament, the cabinet and the supreme court, as determined by the 1814 constitution; the kingdom was established in 872 as a merger of a large number of petty kingdoms and has existed continuously for 1,147 years.
From 1537 to 1814, Norway was a part of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, from 1814 to 1905, it was in a personal union with the Kingdom of Sweden. Norway was neutral during the First World War. Norway remained neutral until April 1940 when the country was invaded and occupied by Germany until the end of Second World War. Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels: counties and municipalities; the Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act. Norway maintains close ties with both the United States. Norway is a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Free Trade Association, the Council of Europe, the Antarctic Treaty, the Nordic Council. Norway maintains the Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system, its values are rooted in egalitarian ideals; the Norwegian state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, having extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, lumber and fresh water.
The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East; the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World IMF lists. On the CIA's GDP per capita list which includes autonomous territories and regions, Norway ranks as number eleven, it has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with a value of US$1 trillion. Norway has had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world since 2009, a position held between 2001 and 2006, it had the highest inequality-adjusted ranking until 2018 when Iceland moved to the top of the list. Norway ranked first on the World Happiness Report for 2017 and ranks first on the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity, the Democracy Index. Norway has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. Norway has two official names: Norge in Noreg in Nynorsk; the English name Norway comes from the Old English word Norþweg mentioned in 880, meaning "northern way" or "way leading to the north", how the Anglo-Saxons referred to the coastline of Atlantic Norway similar to scientific consensus about the origin of the Norwegian language name.
The Anglo-Saxons of Britain referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. There is some disagreement about whether the native name of Norway had the same etymology as the English form. According to the traditional dominant view, the first component was norðr, a cognate of English north, so the full name was Norðr vegr, "the way northwards", referring to the sailing route along the Norwegian coast, contrasting with suðrvegar "southern way" for, austrvegr "eastern way" for the Baltic. In the translation of Orosius for Alfred, the name is Norðweg, while in younger Old English sources the ð is gone. In the 10th century many Norsemen settled in Northern France, according to the sagas, in the area, called Normandy from norðmann, although not a Norwegian possession. In France normanni or northmanni referred to people of Sweden or Denmark; until around 1800 inhabitants of Western Norway where referred to as nordmenn while inhabitants of Eastern Norway where referred to as austmenn. According to another theory, the first component was a word nór, meaning "narrow" or "northern", referring to the inner-archipelago sailing route through the land.
The interpretation as "northern", as reflected in the English and Latin forms of the name, would have been due to folk etymology. This latter view originated with philologist Niels Halvorsen Trønnes in 1847; the form Nore is still used in placenames such as the village of Nore and lake Norefjorden in Buskerud county, still has the same meaning. Among other arguments in favour of the theor
NOK 109,220 million (2017)[1]
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