Karolinska: AstraZeneca donates medical library

AstraZeneca is to donate the Berzelius collection of about 3,000 works by Swedish greats in pharmacy, chemistry and medicine, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Torbern Bergman, and Jacob Berzelius to the Karolinska Institute. Many of the books are rarities from the 1700’s and 1800's, including Scheele’s own copy of the Swedish Pharmacopoeia from 1775.

“The Berzelius collection represents a scientific tradition and has thus played an important role for AstraZeneca. Now we are delighted the Hagströmer Library at the Karolinska Institute continues to curate this unique collection of history of science,” said Anders Ekblom, director of research at AstraZeneca. He added, “Jacob Berzelius was a professor at the Karolinska Institute for 25 years in the early 1800s, and the fact that the Karolinska Institute turns 200 years this year adds an extra dimension.”

Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson, President of the Karolinska Institute, said the Berzelius collection is a cultural treasure and one of the country’s main sources of scientific advance and discoveries in science over the last 300 years. “AstraZeneca’s donation gives Karolinska Institutet an internationally very valuable collection with historical ties to the research going on here and now.”

The Hagströmer Library, named after the Karolinska Institute’s first Principal Bob John Hagströmer, was established in 1997 to take care of the valuable collections at the Karolinska Institute and Swedish Medical Society's library. The library has one of the world's finest medical history collections.