Holger Valdemar Brøndsted
Holger Valdemar Brøndsted (1893 - 1977) was a Danish zoologist, teacher and writer. He earned his first degree from Aarhus University, and then studied natural sciences at the University of Copenhagen. This led to his working as an assistant to Professor Johan Erik Vesti Boas at the Agricultural University's zoological laboratory, as both a teacher and researcher. Following his marriage in 1919, he went to work at Birkerød State School in 1920, initially working as a part-time teacher, but 1921 as an assistant professor. This led to his writing several popular biology books. While teaching, he  resumed his scientific studies, first at the Carlsberg Foundation's Biological Institute with Albert Fischer, and later at Stockholm University (1934-1936), where he earned his doctorate with the thesis, "Entwicklungsphysiologische Studien über Spongilla lacustris" (Studies of the developmental physiology of "Spongilla lacustris"). His interest in developmental physiology led to a series of lectures at Copenhagen University, and the possibility of a chair there, but war intervened. In 1941 he became principal of Birkerød State School, where he dealt with the difficult war years. In 1948, aged 55, he was appointed professor of general zoology at Copenhagen University. He introduced  cytology and experimental embryology, and the courses included histology and evolutionary theory. This position led to the writing of textbooks which also became popular science texts. Alongside his teaching and research work, he became more and more preoccupied with philosophical and religious problems which needed to be related to the biological basis of life. This concern led further books relating religious concerns to biology.