On this site you will get information about Norwegians which have made a name for themself. PAPER CLIP Johan Vaaler secured his patent rights in Germany in 1899. He was granted an American patent in 1901 with his many different designs. The document makes you wonder how anyone could possibly come up with something else and still call it a paper clip as the description of the "paperclip or holder" in the document of the clip he got patented is that: It consists of forming same of a spring material, such as a piece of wire, that is bent to a rectangular, triangular, or otherwise shaped hoop, the end parts of which wire piece form members or tongues lying side by side in contrary directions. CHEESE-SLICER The cheese-slicer is a Norwegian invention. On a hot summerday in 1927 Thor Bjørklund had his lunchbreak in his carpenter-workshop at Lillehammer. As usual, he was curious about the lunch his wife had prepared for him. He was very excited when he discovered the four slices of bread with gouda-cheese (yellow-cheese)..... but the high temperature caused his cheese to melt, which made the cheese look uninviting. Therefore he tried to divide the slices of cheese so that he didn´t have to eat so much of it. At first he tried the knife.....that didn´t work.....then he tried the saw. That didn´t work either. After that he found his plane that he had been using recently to slice some wood. And it worked perfectly well. But it was a bit difficult to use. And you couldn´t store it in the kitchen. Therefore he decided to make it smaller. After thinking about this over night, he found a thin slice of steel. He cut it and bent it down, while the back of the steel-slice was bent up. Then you could have a nice slice of cheese go through. Neighbours and friends loved his invention, so he had to make one for them too. After a while he realized that he should take out a patent for his product, later this year he got it (by the way, the patent-number is 43377).   Edvard Munch (Painter) Henrik Ibsen (Writer) Edvard Grieg (Music) Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (Nobel Prize for Literature) Gustav Vigeland (Sculptures) Henrik Wergeland (National Poet) Knute Rockne (American Football) Leiv Eiriksson (Explorer) Fridtjof Nansen Nobel Peace Prize Roald Amundsen (Explorer) Thor Heyerdahl (Explorer) Herman Wildenvey (Poet) Jonas Lie (Writer) Alexander L. Kielland (Writer) Jan Stenerud (American Football) Marilyn Monroe (Actress) Sigrid Undset (Nobel Prize for Literature) Knut Hamsun (Nobel Prize for Literature) Ole Bull (Violinist) Kirsten Flagstad (Operasinger) Karsten Solheim (Inventor) Theodor Kittelsen (Troll Magic painter) Christian Skredsvig (Painter) Frits Thaulow (Painter) Sonja Henie (Ice Queen) Conrad Hilton (Hilton Hotel Chain) Stein Eriksen (Alpine Skiier) Liv Ullmann (Actress) Jørgen Moe (Author) Peter Asbjørnsen (Author) Adolph Tidemand (Painter) Hans F. Gude (Painter) Triztán Vindtorn (Poet)