Folke Ström was born in
Eskilstuna, Sweden on 15 October 1907. the son of politician Fredrik Ström and author Tua Ström. He grew up in
Stockholm. After graduating from high school, Ström studied ethnography,
Nordic languages and
religious history at
Stockholm University. Among his teachers were
Elias Wessén,
Tor Andræ and . He gained his
B.A. in 1936, and his
Ph.D. in 1942. His doctoral thesis,
On the Sacred Origin of the Germanic Death Penalties (1942). Ström's thesis was praised upon publication, and he was appointed a
docent at Stockholm University in 1943. He was offered the position of professor at
Lund University in 1943, but decided to continue his work at Stockholm. Since 1948, Ström was docent at the
University of Gothenburg. Ström specialized in the study of
Germanic religion, particularly
Old Norse religion. He wrote numerous influential studies on this subjects. Ström retired in 1972. Ström died in Gothenburg, Sweden on 20 January 1996. ==Selected works==