Our dear colleague and friend Erling Sandmo has passed away, only 56 years old. He collapsed unexpectedly during a ski trip in Norway.
Erling was a professor of history in Oslo and leader of the newly established centre for historical maps at the National Library of Norway. His area of expertise was early modern history, in particular cultural history, legal history and the history of knowledge, but his scholarly repertoire was in practice much, much broader. Erling cultivated contacts with fellow historians worldwide and was a visiting researcher in Cambridge, Chicago and Berlin. Many Swedish historians, not least in Lund, have benefitted enormously from his insights, enthusiasm and humour throughout the years.
We worked closely together with Erling in the latter half of the 2010s and he was instrumental when we introduced the history of knowledge as a new field in the Nordic countries. He took part in workshops and conferences, he wrote applications and chapters, he acted as a commentator, editor and mentor. Together with him, we published the book Circulation of Knowledge in 2018.
We remember Erling as a curious, witty, inspiring and creative researcher with an extraordinary open mind. He could never resist to be captivated by the fantastic richness of the past. Today we mourn a great scholar and a true friend.
LUCK Lund Centre for the History of Knowledge 