Kristen Nygaard

Kristen Nygaard (August 27, 1926 - August 10, 2002) was a Norwegian mathematician, computer programming language pioneer and politician. He was born in Oslo and died of a heart attack in 2002.

Other activities

In 1984 and 1985 Nygaard was chairman of the Informatics Committee of the University of Oslo, and active in the design of the university's plan for developing research, education and computing and communication facilities at all faculties of the university.

Related Topics:
1984 - 1985 - University of Oslo

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He was the first chairman of the Environment Protection Committee of the Norwegian Association for the Protection of Nature.

Related Topics:
Environment Protection Committee - Norwegian Association for the Protection of Nature

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He was for 10 years (in the 1970s) Norwegian representative in the OECD activities on information technology. He has been a member of the Research Committee of the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions, and cooperated with unions in a number of countries.

Related Topics:
1970s - OECD - Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions

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He was for several years engaged in running an experimental social institution trying new ways of creating humane living conditions for socially outcast alcoholics.

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Nygaard was active in Norwegian politics. In the mid- and late 1960s he was a member of the National Executive Committee of the Norwegian liberal party Venstre, and chair of that party's Strategy Committee. During the intense political fight before the 1972 referendum on whether Norway should become a member of the European Common Market (later the European Union), he worked as coordinator for the many youth organisations that worked against membership.

Related Topics:
Norwegian politics - 1960s - Liberal - Venstre - 1972 - European Common Market - European Union

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From 1971 to 2001 Nygaard was a member of the Labour Party, and he was a member of committees on research policies in that party.

Related Topics:
1971 - 2001

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In November 1988, he became chair of the Information Committee on Norway and the EEC, in August 1990 reorganised as Nei til EU (No to European Union Membership for Norway, literally "No to EU"), an organisation disseminating information about Norway's relation to the Common Market, and coordinating the efforts to keep Norway outside. Nei til EU became the largest political organisation in Norway (145.000 members in 1994, in a population of 4 million). Nygaard worked with Anne Enger Lahnstein, leader of the anti-E.U. Senterpartiet (Center Party), in this campaign. In the referendum on November 28, 1994, "Nei til EU" succeeded: 52.2% of the electorate voted "No", and the voter participation was the highest ever in Norway's history - 88.8%.

Related Topics:
Nei til EU - 1994 - Anne Enger Lahnstein - Senterpartiet - November 28 - Voter participation

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He resigned as chair in 1995, and was later the chair of the organisation's strategy committee and member of its Council.

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In 1996 and 1997 Nygaard was the coordinator of the efforts to establish The European Anti-Maastricht Movement (TEAM), a cooperative network between national organisations opposing the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the Maastricht Treaty in European countries within and outside the EU. TEAM was successfully started March 3, 1997.

Related Topics:
1996 - 1997 - The European Anti-Maastricht Movement - Economic and Monetary Union - Maastricht Treaty - EU - TEAM - March 3

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