Leif Tronstad

Tronstad was born in Bærum Municipality; the son of Hans Larsen and Josefine Amalie Tronstad, Hans died three months before Leif was born. Leif thus grew up in Sandvika with his mother and four siblings. He graduated from middle school in 1918, with top grades in mathematics. He then embarked on thirty months of professional practice in two local electricity companies, which was a requirement to enrol at Kristiania Technical School, a predecessor of the Faculty of Engineering at Oslo University College. When he enrolled in 1920 he chose technical chemistry instead of electronic engineering. He graduated in 1922, the best chemistry student; a fellow student recalled that he "did not have to read anything more than once" in order to remember it. In the spring of 1923, he also took the examen artium after attending the Haagaas School for one year. He was ready to enroll at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, but waited one year, possibly wanting to strengthen his personal finances. In the meantime, he started on his compulsory military service. He was an accomplished athlete and helped his hometown club Grane SK to two Norwegian 4 × 1500 metres relay records. The records were set in 1921 and 1923, but broken by the team IL i BUL in 1926. His brother John, a bronze medalist in 1500 metres at the 1917 Norwegian championships, was on the relay team as well. it was published scientifically in 1928. Tronstad had taken various stray jobs while studying, From 1927 to 1928 Tronstad worked briefly as an assistant at the Norwegian Institute of Technology as well as in a private company in Kristiansand. In 1928 he returned to the Norwegian Institute of Technology as a research fellow. In the same year, Tronstad married Edla Obel, who was nine years his junior, in Trondheim. The couple had two children. ==Academic career==

Tronstad spent the first year of a research period as an assistant to Herbert Freundlich in Dahlem, Berlin. He studied the passivity of metal surfaces, and made a breakthrough when he managed to measure extremely thin oxide surface coatings, thus solving a problem dating from the time of Michael Faraday. ==World War II==

German invasion of Norway Tronstad, holding a military rank, had a standing order to report to the Norwegian military headquarters in Oslo in the face of a military peril. When Germany invaded Norway on 9 April 1940, he first informed his students of the situation, and then drove towards Oslo. He brought his wife and children with him, but having no intention of taking them to a possible theatre of war, he left them in the Drivdalen valley. He continued alone but shortly after, upon learning that Oslo was the first city to fall to the invaders, he stopped at Dovre. The family had a cabin in the vicinity. Here, he helped organize volunteers from local rifle associations to form a line of defence meant to repel any advancing German forces. He was associated with the radio agent group Skylark B, which had regular contact with London from January 1941. Among other things, he sent reports on the interest shown by German authorities in the heavy water plant at Vemork. One source of this information was Tronstad's old companion, Jomar Brun, still in charge of the plant, Another resistance member, who had already been jailed, managed to warn Tronstad, who travelled from Trondheim to Oslo by train. The following day, the Gestapo visited his house to arrest him. After a few days in hiding, Tronstad was driven by car to Østfold, and then travelled on foot to Töcksfors via Ørje. Also, he had recently been promoted from Captain to Major. Tronstad's section was responsible for the special operation towards industry and shipping; training of the Norwegian Independent Company 1 (Kompani Linge); technical advice on sabotage, and towards the end of the war also the protection of Norwegian industry. The idea of subjecting the heavy water facility at Vemork to heavy air bombing surfaced, but Tronstad was a staunch opponent of such an idea, which he saw as too hazardous. He warned of the presence of civil housing, and argued that bombing was not even guaranteed to succeed, given that the heavy water facility was located in the armoured basement of the electrolyzing plant. The first attempt to take out the facility, in November 1942, had consisted of British personnel using gliders to land near Vemork. Tronstad was parachuted into Hardangervidda on 4 October 1944, together with eight Norwegian Independent Company 1 members. Jens-Anton Poulsson and Claus Helberg. They lived in a small cabin built by Einar Skinnarland. However, after a few months a situation arose that could compromise the operation. It was feared that Torgeir Lognvik, the bailiff installed by the Nazis in Rauland municipality, had become suspicious. Thus, the people behind Operation Sunshine created a plan to lure him to the mountains, and capture and interrogate him there. On 11 March 1945, resistance member Jon Landsverk managed to travel with Torgeir Lognvik towards the mountains on the pretext of showing him some stolen goods. The two were soon met by Gunnar Syverstad and Einar Skinnarland, who captured the bailiff. He was taken to a lodge in the hills of Syrebekkstølen, where he was to be interrogated by Landsverk, Syverstad and Tronstad. However, on the same day, Torgeir's brother Johans became suspicious and decided to follow the ski trails, which led him to Syrebekkstølen. Armed, he entered the lodge, firing several shots, taking the Resistance fighters by surprise. Gunnar Syverstad was killed in the initial attack. Torgeir, who was not bound, grabbed a rifle. In the struggle, Tronstad charged at Johans, but was killed. The two brothers then escaped. Jon Landsverk survived, and together with Einar Skinnarland he disposed of the two bodies in a lake. However, the next day the bodies were found and burned by German forces. After the war, Jon Landsverk testified against the Lognvik brothers as a part of the legal purge in Norway after World War II. While Landsverk claimed that the wounded Tronstad had been killed by a blow from the butt of a rifle held by Torgeir, the court found Johans guilty of both murders, and Torgeir of attempted murder. Johans was sentenced to a ten-year prison term, and Torgeir to a five-year term. Diaries Tronstad's coded diaries from 1941 to 1945 are preserved, and the 13 original books are kept by the National Archival Services of Norway. They have been transcribed and made available to historians, and are regarded as an important source of information from the "outer front". ==Awards and legacy==

Tronstad had a military funeral on 30 May 1945, A statue of Tronstad today stands at the square Leif Tronstads plass in Sandvika, the administrative centre of Bærum. It was commissioned in 1965 by the local Rotary club, and erected in 1973. Abstract, it was sculpted by Fritz Røed. ==References==