Short biography

Steen, Johannes Vilhelm Christian

1827 – 1906
Educator and politician
Liberal

Johannes Vilhelm Christian Steen received his M.A. degree (Cand.Philol.) in 1848. From 1849 he worked as a teacher. He was headmaster at the Grammar School in Stavanger (southwestern Norway) in 1867-1891. Steen was elected chairman of the political organization, Arbeiderforeningen “The Workers’ Association” in 1855 and became involved in local politics.

In 1859 Steen was elected to the Storting for the first time and became known as an excellent speaker. A leading liberal politician, he was a member of the Storting in 1859-60, 1862-66, 1868-73, 1877-88, and 1895-1900. He served as President of the Storting in 1881-88 and 1895-98. Johannes Steen was both Prime Minister and Finance Minister in 1891-93 and then Prime Minister once more in 1898-1902. He was a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in 1901-1906.

Back to the list of Norwegian Nobel Committee members 1901-2017

The biographical sketches of the Norwegian Nobel Committee members were written by Sølvi Glendrange and edited by Øyvind Tønnesson. They are based on the following sources:
– Norsk Biografisk Leksikon (Norwegian Biographical Encyclopaedia), Oslo 1923-1983
– Hvem er Hvem? (The Norwegian “Who’s Who”), several editions
– Aschehoug og Gyldendals Store Norske Leksikon (The Norwegian National Encyclopaedia), Kunnskapsforlaget, 2nd and 3rd edition, Oslo 1989/1995-1999
– Kunnskapsforlagets Nettleksikon (the Web Encyclopedia of Kunnskapsforlaget, www.kunnskapsforlaget.no), Oslo 1999