Personal life

He was born in Drammen

Drammen

Drammen is a city in Buskerud County, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the eastern and most populated part of Norway.-Location:...

 as a son of Jens Gram

Jens Gram

-Personal life:He was born in Ask as a son of Johan Georg Boll Gram and Fredrikke Severine Mathea Stabell. He was a brother of Andrea Gram, grandson of Jens Jensen Gram and a first cousin of Gregers Winther Wulfsberg Gram. Through his sister Nicoline he was a brother-in-law of Eilif Peterssen.In...

. He was a brother of Mads Gram

Mads Gram

Harald Mathias "Mads" Gram was a Norwegian physician.He was born in Drammen as the son of Jens Gram. He was a brother of Johan Fredrik Gram, a maternal grandson of P. A. Munch and a paternal great-grandson of Jens Jensen Gram, a nephew of Andrea Gram and a first cousin of Harald Gram...

, a maternal grandson of P. A. Munch and a paternal great-grandson of Jens Jensen Gram

Jens Jensen Gram

Jens Jensen Gram was a Norwegian jurist and politician.He was born in Copenhagen as the son of Jens Gram. He studied at the University of Copenhagen from 1798, and graduated with the cand.jur. degree in 1804...

, a nephew of Andrea Gram

Andrea Gram

Grete Ingeborg Johanne Andrea Gram was a Norwegian painter.She was born in Ask in Norderhov as a daughter of Johan Georg Boll Gram . She was a sister of Jens Gram, granddaughter of Jens Jensen Gram, first cousin of Gregers Winther Wulfsberg Gram and aunt of Johan Fredrik Gram and Mads Gram...

 and a first cousin of Harald Gram

Harald Gram

Harald Gram was a Norwegian jurist, politician and genealogist. He was secretary general for the Conservative Party of Norway for 22 years, deputy mayor of Aker, member of Parliament from 1928 to 1936, and stipendiary magistrate in Oslo from 1936 to 1957...

. His aunt Nicoline was married to Eilif Peterssen

Eilif Peterssen

Hjalmar Eilif Emanuel Peterssen was a Norwegian painter.-Background:Hjalmar Eilif Emanuel Peterssen was born in Christiania, now Oslo, Norway. He grew up in the neighborhood of Hegdehaugen in the district of Frogner.He attended the Johan Fredrik Eckersberg School of Painting in Oslo in 1869...

.

In October 1896 he married Elisabeth Cappe Schram. She was the older sister of his brother Mads' wife Irma.

Career

He finished his secondary education in 1887, studied in Kristiania and Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, and took the dr.philos. degree in 1892 at the University of Jena. He was hired as the head chemist of the Norwegian State Railways in December 1908. He is also known for his research on the coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 at Svalbard

Svalbard

Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...

, harvested by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani

Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani

Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani , or simply Store Norske, is a Norwegian coal mining company based on the Svalbard archipelago. It was formed in 1916, after a Norwegian purchase of the American Arctic Coal Company ....

 from 1916.

Gram was also admitted into the exclusive skiing-based social club SK Ull

SK Ull

Skiklubben Ull was a Norwegian Nordic skiing club based in Oslo but with its sporting facilities in Vestre Aker. Founded in 1883, it attracted several professed sportsmen who between 1883 and 1891 won six Ladies' Cups and one King's Cup, among other national events. Its members also participated in...

in 1895. He served as deputy chairman frmo 1926 to 1928, and chairman from 1928 to 1933 and 1935 to 1940.