The Honorary President of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has passed away

H.M. King Harald V

The Honorary President of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, H.M. King Harald V, has passed away. The Norwegian scientific community mourns this immense loss with the Royal Family and the people of Norway.

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King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway present at the Nansen memorial lecture in October 2025 in The Academy. Photo: Thomas B. Eckhoff

King Harald filled the title of Honorary President with real commitment. From the time he was elected as an honorary member of The Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters in 1980 together with Crown Princess Sonja and continuing in the role of the Academy's Honorary President in 1991 as King of Norway, he showed a sincere interest in Norwegian research.

The King regularly attended many of the Academy's annual events, such as the Annual meeting and the Nansen Memorial Lecture, and regularly received the President and Secretary General in audience at the Royal Palace. In all these meetings, the King expressed both professional commitment and human wisdom, and he often contributed with humorous observations.
Those who have met the King at the Academy's events remember a man of genuine curiosity – one who not only represented, but listened, asked questions and became involved in the research he was presented with. It was this interest in the members and their work, more than the formal title, which gave the role of honorary president its content.

The King always left the Academy with a smile.

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The portrait of H.M. King Harald V hangs in The Academy`s house on Drammensveien. 

His importance for Norwegian basic research can hardly be overestimated. By personally awarding the Abel Prize, the world's highest-ranking mathematics prize, he elevated a field of study that rarely reaches the public. He sent a strong signal that knowledge without immediate practical use has an independent value for society. The same applied to his long-standing role in awarding the Kavli Prizes in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience, where he put Norwegian science on the international map.

Through his actions, King Harald continued a long tradition in which the Norwegian Royal family has supported the country's scientific institutions. The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters is deeply grateful to him for the more than 30 years he gave to Norwegian research, and we remember him as an honorary president who made a difference.

Annelin Eriksen, President, and Marit Westergaard, Secretary General