Jonas Lidströmer

Lidströmer

Lidströmer is a Swedish noble family, originating from the village of Liden, Medelpad, Sweden. Knighted 3 October 1800 by King Gustav IV Adolf in the cathedral of Linköping, Sweden...

(1755–1808) was a Swedish inventor and officer in the Swedish navy

Swedish Navy

The Royal Swedish Navy is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet – as well as marine units, the so-called Amphibious Corps .In Swedish, vessels of the Swedish Navy are given the prefix "HMS," short for Hans/Hennes...

.
Lidströmer was born in 1755 at Lagfors bruk, Medelpad

Medelpad

' is a historical province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders to Hälsingland, Härjedalen, Jämtland, Ångermanland and the Gulf of Bothnia....

, and died 1808 in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

. Colonel-mecanicus, Head of the mechanical state of the Royal Swedish-Finnish Navy, Royal Inventor and adviser to the king, Knight of the order of Wasa

Wasa

Wasa may refer to any of the following:*Wasa Lake, a place in British Columbia, Canada*Wasabröd, a brandname used by the Swedish company AB Wasabröd*IK Wasa, a big Swedish club*Vasa , 17th century Swedish warship, formerly spelled Wasa...

 and finally knighted Lidströmer

Lidströmer

Lidströmer is a Swedish noble family, originating from the village of Liden, Medelpad, Sweden. Knighted 3 October 1800 by King Gustav IV Adolf in the cathedral of Linköping, Sweden...

 (was previously called Lidström).

Biography

He was the son of inspector and co-owner of Lagfors bruk, Jonas Lidström the elder (born 1713), and began his studies at Uppsala University

Uppsala University

Uppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...

 in spring 1771.

Jonas Lidströmer has often been called Sweden's "mechanical genius" and is often compared with Polhem, another great Swedish inventor.
He collaborated with Fredrik Henrik af Chapman

Fredrik Henrik af Chapman

Fredrik Henrik af Chapman was a Swedish shipbuilder, scientist and officer in the Swedish navy. He was also manager of the Karlskrona shipyard 1782-1793...

 and came via him to Karlskrona

Karlskrona

Karlskrona is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 35,212 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Sweden's only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the...

, the main base of the Swedish navy at the time. He also collaborated with the artists Johan Tobias Sergel

Johan Tobias Sergel

Johan Tobias Sergel , Swedish sculptor, was born in Stockholm.-Biography:After studying for some time in Paris he went to Rome, where he remained for twelve years and sculpted a number of groups in marble, including, besides subjects from classical mythology, a colossal representation of "History,"...

, Louis Jean Desprez

Louis Jean Desprez

Louis Jean Desprez ca 1743–18 March 1804 was a French painter and architect who worked in Sweden during the last twenty years of his life....

 and Ehrensvärd, and a letter corresondence with C.C. Gjörwell has been preserved. The later wellrenowned royal architect Fredrik Blom was the adept of Jonas Lidströmer.

Perhaps he is mostly famous for the Obelisk at Slottsbacken

Obelisk at Slottsbacken

The Obelisk at Slottsbacken adjacent to the southern entrances of the Royal Palace in Stockholm Old Town is considered to be the very centre point of the Swedish capital Stockholm.The granite Obelisk is 22 m high, including the pedestal of 5 m...

 adjacent to the Royal Palace in Stockholm and the construction of Norrbro

Norrbro

Norrbro is an arch bridge over Norrström in central Stockholm. It extends north from the northern front of the Stockholm Palace passing over Helgeandsholmen in front of the parliament building, Riksdagen, and from there over to Gustaf Adolfs torg...

 (the bridge between the Royal Palace and the Opera in Stockholm, architect for the southern part, but leader for the construction of the northern as well). Jonas Lidströmer also erected the statue of king Gustav III

Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....

, with its functional postament. He has also designed, constructed and built the famous Mast Crane at the Naval harbour of Karlskrona.

Jonas Lidströmer also constructed series of harbours in Sweden and Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, and improved the harbours of Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

, Karlskrona and Helsingborg

Helsingborg

Helsingborg is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 97,122 inhabitants in 2010. Helsingborg is the centre of an area in the Øresund region of about 320,000 inhabitants in north-west Scania, and is Sweden's closest point to Denmark, with the Danish city...

.

He was the head of the Mechanical school in Karlskorna, the most qualified technical education at the time. He is behind a large number of mechanical devices and innovations, such as steel grinderies, chip docks, compasses etc.

Jonas Lidströmer was the president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...

 (of which he was a member from 1805), and member of several other academies such as the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts

Royal Swedish Academy of Arts

The Royal Swedish Academy of Arts or Kungl. Akademien för de fria konsterna, founded in 1773 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...

 and the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences

Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences

The Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences or Kungl. Krigsvetenskapsakademin, founded in 1739 by King Frederick I, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden. The Academy is an independent organization and a forum for military and defense issues. Membership is limited to 160 chairs under the age of...

. He was Knight of the Royal Order of Vasa

Order of Vasa

The Royal Order of Vasa was a Swedish Royal order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III of Sweden...

. Several models and drawings of his work are present at a number of museums such as the Maritime Museum in Stockholm (Sjöhistoriska museet), the Architecture Museum in Stockholm (Arkitekturmuseum) and the Naval Museum in Karlskrona (Marinmuseum).

He married Elisabeth Öhman and had six children. Two daughters and two sons survived to adulthood. His younger son Johan Nikolaus Lidströmer, who inherited the Allatorp property outside Karlskrona

Karlskrona

Karlskrona is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 35,212 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Sweden's only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the...

 in Blekinge

Blekinge

' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , situated in the south of the country. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea.The name "Blekinge" comes from the adjective bleke, which corresponds to the nautical term for "dead calm"....

, had children, but no grandchildren. Jonas Lidströmer's oldest son Fredrik August Lidströmer

Fredrik August Lidströmer

Fredrik August Lidströmer , son of Jonas Lidströmer. Swedish architect, artist and marine officer and Stockholm's City architect. Grown up in the naval city of Karlskrona and came to Stockholm to help his father with construction of the Obelisk at Slottsbacken adjacent to the royal palace, and then...

 (1787–1856) was Stockholm's City Architect and passed the name further to his oldest son Otto August Lidströmer, businessman in Stockholm, who also had a younger brother Fredrik Lidströmer who was commander (officer) at the former Swedish colony Saint Barthelemy

Saint Barthélemy

Saint Barthélemy , officially the Territorial collectivity of Saint Barthélemy , is an overseas collectivity of France. Often abbreviated to Saint-Barth in French, or St. Barts in English, the indigenous people called the island Ouanalao...

 in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

, who did however not have any children. Otto August Lidströmer alone passed the name further to his only son Gustaf Lidströmer (lawyer)(whose sister Sigrid Lidströmer

Sigrid Lidströmer

Sigrid Lidströmer , grand daughter of the architect Fredrik August Lidströmer, was a Swedish author, polemicist and translator. She wrote articles in the Swedish literary gazette Idun, wrote and translated songs, novels, short stories, polemical articles, and poems from and to Swedish, Finnish,...

didn't have any children), who in his turn passed it to his only child Jonas (II) Lidströmer (lawyer).