User:Gbentzen/sandbox

Anton Brøgger

Anton Brøgger (born 13 May, 1934 - full name Anton Wilhelm Brøgger) is a Norwegian geneticist or rather cell biologist. .

He was born on Capri, Italy as the oldest child of the author Waldemar Christofer Brøgger and his wife Elin Amalie Thon. He spent his early childhood in Paris, Berlin, Norway and as a refugee in Sweden during World War II.

Anton Brøgger was a professor of Genetics at the Department of Biosciences at the University of Oslo. He was also director of the Genetics Department of the Norsk Hydro's Institute for Cancer Research at the Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo from 1974 to 1999. .

He was a pioneer in researching the field of chromosome abnormality in Norway, focusing on Down Syndrome from around 1960-61. This was a time with few resources and Brøgger built his own box with a glass lid and two closeable openings to be able to work without polluting the genetic material. The same box was later used for the first attempts at prenatal diagnostics in Norway.

Brøgger was among the first group of Norwegian academics to criticize testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. He wrote about the dangers ionizing radiation posed to human genes. He continued to work on radioactivity, especially low dose exposure and damage to genetic material. After the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl in 1986 he became central in providing information to the Norwegian population about what they could expect. He had long worked on risk assessments for environmental mutagens and carcinogens. In general Brøgger was eager to help inform the public about science and scientists and published 72 articles in the Norwegian Encyclopedia - Store norske leksikon.

As a member of Den nasjonale forskningsetiske komité for medisin og helsefag - NEM (The Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics in Medicine), Brøgger argued for improved public access to information about the relationships between the researchers and pharmaceutical companies, while at the same time protecting the privacy of the individual patients participating in the research projects. He had earlier been part of a committee established by the Research Council of Norway that delivered a report about research and ethical liability. The group worked on the report from 1979 to 1981.

Bibliography:

1967 Translocation in human chromosomes with special reference to mental retardation and congenital malformations, Universitetsforlaget, Oslo. Scandinavian university books; Norwegian monographs on medical science 1975 Arvelighet, (Norwegian) ISBN-10: 8202031397 ISBN-13: 978-8202031398

1986 Det radioaktive Norge etter Tsjernobyl,(Norwegian) ISBN-10: 8252128653 ISBN-13: 978-8252128659