Herman Wedel Major

{{short description|Norwegian psychiatrist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Herman Wedel Major

| image = Herman Wedel Major.jpg

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1814|2|23|df=y}}

| birth_place = Kristiansand, Norway

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1854|9|26|1814|2|23|df=y}}

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| nationality = Norwegian

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| occupation = Psychiatrist

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Herman Wedel Major (23 February 1814 – 26 September 1854) was a Norwegian psychiatrist. He is regarded as the father of the first Norwegian psychiatric hospital, Gaustad Hospital (Gaustad sykehus) and of the Norwegian Mental Health Act of 1848 regarding mental illness.{{cite web|url= http://tidsskriftet.no/article/226458

|title= Herman W. Major – "far" til norsk psykiatri|publisher= Tidsskrift for den Norske Legeforening|date= 30 November 2000|accessdate= August 1, 2016}}{{cite web|url= https://snl.no/Gaustad_sykehus|title= Gaustad sykehus|publisher= Store norske leksikon|author= Svein Atle Skålevåg

|accessdate= August 1, 2016}}

[http://www.medscape.com/medline/abstract/27381794 Norwegian Mental Health Act adopted by the Storting on 30 July 1848] (Webmedscape.com). Retrieved August 1, 2016

Major was born at the Kristiansand borough of Oddernes in Vest-Agder, Norway. He was one of nine children born to Irish immigrant Robert Gonsalvo Major (1766–1839) and Benedicte Sophie Weidemann (1783–1859). His father had left Ireland in the aftermath of the Irish Rebellion of 1798.{{cite web|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/irish_reb_01.shtml|title= The 1798 Irish Rebellion|publisher= BBC |accessdate= August 1, 2016}}

Major became a medical student in 1832 and was licensed as a physician in November 1842.

He received a grant from the Norwegian Parliament and traveled to institutions in Schleswig, Great Britain, France and Belgium to study the conditions for the mentally ill (1843-1845). Major was for several years a doctor at the Oslo Hospital and was authorized as manager there from 1851.{{cite web|url= http://lokalhistoriewiki.no/index.php/Oslo_Hospital|title= Oslo Hospital |publisher= lokalhistoriewiki.no|accessdate= August 1, 2016}}

{{cite journal|title= Herman W. Major--"father" of Norwegian psychiatry|date= 30 November 2000 |pmid=11188385 | volume=120|author=Retterstøl N|journal=Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen|issue= 29 |pages=3562–3}}{{cite web

|url= http://lokalhistoriewiki.no/index.php/Herman_Wedel_Major|title= Herman Wedel Major|publisher= lokalhistoriewiki.no|accessdate= August 1, 2016}}

During 1845, the Norwegian Parliament allocated funds to purchase land for an intended state asylum. In 1847, Gaustad outside Christiania (now Oslo) submitted a plan and in 1850 it was formally decided that the institution should be built there. Gaustad Hospital was not completed until 1855, after the death of Herman Wedel Major.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Herman Wedel Major |encyclopedia=Store norske leksikon |publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget |location=Oslo |url=http://www.snl.no/Herman_Wedel_Major |language=Norwegian | accessdate=19 February 2011 }}

In 1850, Major married Ida Cathrine Grüning (1821-1854). They had two daughters. He and his family all died in the ship collision between the American Paddle steamer SS Arctic and the French steamship SS Vesta on 26 September 1854 off the coast of Newfoundland.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Herman Wedel Major |encyclopedia=Norsk biografisk leksikon|first=Nils |last=Retterstøl |authorlink=Nils Retterstøl |editor=Helle, Knut |publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget |location=Oslo|url=http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Herman_Wedel_Major/utdypning |language=Norwegian|accessdate=19 February 2011}}