The first record of a Sverdrup appeared in Norway in 1620. Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, 1888-1957, polar explorer and oceanographer, traced his ancestry on his father's side to his great-great-grandfather, a large land owner in northern Norway. In 1813, one of his three sons, Georg Sverdrup, a professor at the University of Oslo, was a participant in the Norwegian constitutional convention.
His grandfather and namesake, Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, 1813-1891, was a Lutheran theologian. Sverdrup's father, Johan Edvard Sverdrup, 1866-1923, was a minister of the State Church of Norway (Lutheran). His mother, Maria Vollan, died when Sverdrup was a child.
From the description of Papers, 1880-1937. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 41399315