death_place death_date religion birth_place citizenship fields workplaces birth_date article_title name alma_mater
Årstad 15 october 2009 christian haugesund norwegian psychiatry pharmacology university of bergen professor 1963 -- 1992 17 october 1922 tollak b. sirnes
 tollak b. sirnes university of oslo
tollak b. sirnes

tollak bakke sirnes -lrb- 17 october 1922 -- 15 october 2009 -rrb- was a norwegian physician , psychiatrist and pharmacologist .
sirnes was born in haugesund , and had eleven siblings of whom ten were older .
he finished his secondary education in haugesund in 1942 .
he then enrolled at the university of oslo .
this was during world war ii , and sirnes was arrested by the german occupation force following the 28 november 1943 university fire in oslo .
of a total of 1,166 students arrested , 644 were sent to germany for `` readjustment '' .
sirnes was imprisoned in buchenwald and neuengamme concentration camps , but survived and was released at the war 's end .
he returned to norway , graduated from the university of oslo with the cand.med .
degree in 1950 and worked as a research assistant until 1954 .
he also married in july 1950 .
in 1954 he took the dr.med .
degree with the thesis `` some effects of barbiturate derivatives on the function of the mammalian sceletal muscle '' .
he worked as a physician in mandal from 1954 to 1955 , at ullevål hospital from 1955 to 1958 and at dikemark hospital from 1958 to 1963 .
in 1962 he qualified as a specialist in psychiatry .
he was appointed professor of pharmacology at the university of bergen in 1963 .
he remained here until 1992 , and was also chief physician at haukeland hospital from 1972 to 1979 , dean from 1973 to 1975 and deputy rector in 1975 .
sirnes edited `` sinnets helse '' from 1960 to 1962 and `` acta pharmacologica et toxicologica scandinavica '' from 1963 to 1981 , and worked in the staff of `` tidsskrift for den norske lægeforening '' until 1985 .
sirnes also contributed to popular science , and won a popular science award from navf in 1976 .
he was inspired by the philosophy of søren kierkegaard , and his christian views marked his authorship .
he was decorated as a knight , first class of the royal norwegian order of st. olav in 1994 .
he lived in Årstad , bergen , and died in his home in october 2009 .
