Europe Trivia : Sweden

Quick Facts : Sweden



Area: 174,000 sq mi (450,000 km²), the third largest country in Western Europe Longest north-south distance: 978 mi (1,574 km)

Longest east-west distance: 310 mi (499 km)

Capital: Stockholm
Population: 9.3 million inhabitants
Languages: Swedish; recognized minority languages: Sami (Lapp), Finnish, Meänkieli (Tornedalen Finnish), Yiddish, Romani Chib
Form of government: Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy
Parliament: The Riksdag, with 349 members in one chamber
Religion: In practice, Sweden is very secularized. The Church of Sweden is Evangelical Lutheran; co-exists with many other beliefs
Life expectancy: men 79 years, women 83 years
(facts from www.sweden.se)

A few Swedes known to the world:

Astrid Lindgren (14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002)
author and screenwriter, whose many works were translated into 85 languages and published in more than 100 countries. She has sold roughly 145 million copies worldwide. Today, she is best remembered for writing the Pippi Longstocking and Karlsson-on-the-Roof book series.

Alfred Nobel (21 October 1833 –10 December 1896)
chemist, engineer, innovator, armaments manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite. He owned Bofors, a major armaments manufacturer, which he had redirected from its previous role as an iron and steel mill. In his last will, he used his enormous fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes. The synthetic element nobelium was named after him.

Carl Linneaus (May 23 1707 – January 10, 1778)
Botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature (=the formal system of naming species). He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology.

Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007)
director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. He depicted bleakness and despair as well as comedy and hope in his explorations of the human condition. He is recognized as one of the most brilliant and influential filmmakers of modern cinema.
He directed 62 films, most of which he also wrote, and directed over 170 plays. Some of his internationally known favorite actors were Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson and Max von Sydow. Most of his films were set in the landscape of his native Sweden, and major themes were often bleak, dealing with death, illness, betrayal and insanity.

A few Swedish inventors:

• Anders Celsius, (1701–44) was an astronomer and mathematician most famous for inventing the 100-point thermometer scale, widely used across the world.
• Gustaf Erik Pasch (1788–1862) invented the safety match.
• Gustaf de Laval (1845-1913) was a Swedish engineer and inventor who made important contributions to the design of steam turbines and dairy machinery.
• Lars Magnus Ericsson (1846-1926) started the company bearing his name, Ericsson, still one of the largest telecom companies in the world.
• Gustaf Dalén (1869-1937) founded AGA, and received the Nobel Prize for his sun valve.
• One of John Ericsson's (1803–89) most important inventions was ship propellers. Ericsson became widely famous when he built the Monitor, an armoured battleship that in 1862 triumphed over the Confederate States’ Merrimack in an American Civil War sea battle.
• Nils Bohlin (1920-2002) was a Swedish inventor who invented the three-point safety belt while working at Volvo.
• Tetra Pak (1951) is an invention for storing, packaging and distributing liquid foodstuffs, for example, milk and juice. Erik Wallenberg (1915–99) was the main inventor, while businessman Ruben Rausing (1895–1983) developed and produced it.

You have probably heard Swedish bands and artists like : ABBA, Roxette, Ace of Base, Europe and those. So I thought I'd make a little playlist with some newer ones - that you've probably heard.. but still, enjoy!