Carl Olaf Sonne

Carl Olaf Sonne was the son of Olaf Mathias Kofoed Sonne and Andrea Juliane Kuure and grew up in Svaneke, a quiet provincial town on Bornholm. He graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1907 and then worked in the State Serum Institute, where he identified the bacillus now known as Shigella sonnei. On October 3, 1909, he married Marie Johanne Petersen. They had three children: Karen Sonne, Lass Mahler Sonne (Dr. med.) and Maja Kirkeby.

From 1913 to 1917 Sonne was a resident physician in the university clinic at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. From 1918 to 1929 he was chief of the experimental laboratory at the Finsen institute. Here he was one of the first to show that sunlight formed vitamin D in skin and explained its value in the treatment of rickets. One of his major research interests was respiratory physiology.

We thank Else Sonne for information submitted.