Hedin, Sven Anders, 1750-1821

Sven Anders Hedin was born in 1865 in Stockholm. He was educated at the University of Stockholm and studied geography and geology at the Universities of Uppsala and Berlin, receiving a doctorate in 1892. In 1890, he served briefly as an interpreter with the Swedish-Norwegian embassy to the Shah of Persia, later travelling throughout Asia and publishing A journey through Asia in 1898.

Between 1893 and 1935, Hedin made four expeditions to Central Asia, and in 1902, received a Swedish knighthood. From 1927 to 1935, he travelled in the Gobi Desert and Turkestan with a team of international scientists. In 1930, he received the first Hedin medal for significant geographic, especially cartographic, research of less known areas. From 1937 to 1949, he worked on numerous volumes concerning his expedition to northern China. He died on 26 November 1952 in Stockholm.

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