It feels a little cramped on the way up the front steps. Not because there is a lack of space, but rather just because the greenery stands so high and wide there at the entrance. On the other side of the house, the raspberries hang ripe. And the colour of the facade? Green of course, with red knots.
Hjalmar Granberg is a researcher and lives in one of the 20th-century houses in Röda stan, one of Norrköping's many oases for artistic family life. The door stands wide open and the "Come in" that meets my knock swings a clear bass in the sound.
-Yes, I sing in a choir. I have been chairman of the association for some time now. It was a bit unexpected, I didn't think they would choose me... But it is precisely this type of assignment that I enjoy the most. When I get to go into what is new and previously unknown to me...
He talks about meeting across disciplines, about competencies that can be bumped and soaked in joint projects. About the friction that arises and the possibility to gain clarity through it not only in one's own work but also in that of others and the common.
Is this where you are in your prime?
-Yes, I really enjoy in those contexts... There you have a chance to ask the stupid questions...
But back to the house. A music room opens up right next to the hall. There is a contrabass facing the piano. A synthesizer waits right next door and violins are perched on the wall. A plethora of rhythm instruments rest on a couple of chairs and colourful masks adorn the vault towards the continuing living room. In one corner stands a tiled stove.
-That one holds two of my biggest interests, fire and wood.
As a child, Granberg loved to walk in the forest with his family. On the weekends they made excursions in the surrounding area around southern Östergötland and in the summers they settled in their cabin in Norrbothnia, which had neither water nor electricity. The young Hjalmar got to know the various elements of nature and learn how to build houses and recognize the smell of freshly sawn heartwood. He found his own blueberry and gooseberry stands and easily distinguished by the smell between burnt spruce, pine or birch. He knew the scent of the marshes in autumn, and the sound of the nutrient-rich lakes against forests and expanses.
-And so the whole family gathered in one big room. It became a place for community in a different way than everyday life could offer.
Was it important to you?
-Yes, but if you are looking for a place where I really felt at home and had peace, the answer is probably in the music.
Already at the age of six, Hjalmar sang in a children's choir and mother, a trained cantor, made sure that the three brothers got to listen to James & Karin's album "BARNLÅTAR".
-It is clear, already there there were clear messages about the importance of taking care of our planet. It probably influenced me, absolutely.
He puts on "Lullaby for Desert Foxes" and sings along to the lyrics. The titles read "The Moose Demonstrate" and "The Day the Forest Burned". He is clearly affected, yet.
-It was like that in the 70s, everything was about taking care of the earth.
An upbringing close to and in harmony with nature led to physics studies and eventually a thesis in optics.
How did it happen?
-I was always fascinated by optics in particular. And got an ex-job in paper optics. There I was able to work in a field where you can communicate with people about things that are important to everyone - why does the sky turn red on summer evenings, why is it sometimes blue, how is it that you can see through certain bodies of water if you wear polaroid glasses on or discuss the reflection in the asphalt that appears on a hot summer's day ... all that fits within optics - and partly attack quantum physics, which has its cradle precisely in optics.
He quotes Einstein: "He who does not feel bad, has not understood quantum physics". Again the fascination for the unknown.
The dissertation ”Optical Response From Paper - Angle-dependent Light Scattering Measurements, Modelling, And Analysis” came in 2003 and has since involved many hours in the development of wood that becomes paper, conductive material and now also load-bearing components in batteries.
Solutions that the moose do not need to demonstrate at best.
Text: Anna Wallentin
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