Lennart Andrén

Lennart Andrén, son of a bank manager, was a Swedish middle-distance runner who was entered in two events at the Olympic Games in Stockholm but did not start. He graduated from school in 1908 and studied at the universities in Lund, Heidelberg (Germany) and Uppsala. In 1918, he received his doctorate with a thesis with the German title “Zählung und Messung der komplexen Moleküle einiger Dämpfe nach einer neuen Kondensationstheorie” (Counting and Measuring the Complex Molecules of Certain Vapors Based on a New Condensation Theory).

In 1921, Andrén graduated from the Swedish Institute of Technology in Stockholm as a mining engineer and continued his studies in physics and mathematics at the Nyköping University. After internships at various steel companies in the USA, he became chief metallurgist at the American Chain Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut from 1925 to 1932. After his return to Sweden, he was the manager of the iron company L. Andrén & Co. in Ystad, which was founded by his father in 1879. Lennart Andrén made several patented inventions in welding technology and steel fabrication.

Andrén was engaged in various local civic and technical organisations in Ystad. He was married to Agnes Maria Walling but the marriage remained childless. Lennart liked to play golf and chess. From 1947-52, he was chairman of the local golf club.