He graduated from the
University of Oslo with a
cand.philol. degree in 1970. From 1972 he was a research assistant at the
University of Oslo, and after a tenure as researcher at the
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs 1974–1978 he moved back to the university to become an
associate professor (
førsteamanuensis). He finally became a professor in 1989, having taken the
dr.philos. degree in 1988. He has been a visiting scholar at numerous institutions, such as the
University of Wisconsin, Madison and the
London School of Economics. He was the Norwegian editor of the
Scandinavian Journal of History from 1984 to 1990, and editor-in-chief from 1990 to 1996. In addition he is a consultant for the
Norwegian Nobel Committee. He is a member of the
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. In his younger days, Pharo was an active middle distance runner. He became Norwegian
800 metres champion in 1964, and took his last championship medal (a bronze medal) in 1973. His personal best time was 1:48.8 minutes, achieved in August 1968 on
Bislett stadion. ==References==