Göran Fredrik Göransson

Göran Fredrik Göransson was born on 20 January 1819 in Gävle, Sweden, to Maria Catharina Elfstrand and Anders Petter Göransson. He was the oldest son in the family of three girls and four boys. He went to school in Gävle and also spent 18 months in Germany, France, England and the United States in order to acquire experience in conducting international business.[1][2]

In 1841, Göransson became a partner in the firm Daniel Elfstrand & Co., his family business, and its director in 1856.[1] In 1856, the company also acquired the iron-works in Högbo along with the Edske blast furnace. He traveled to England in 1857 to acquire a steam engine for the Edske furnace but after a change in business plans, bought one-fifth of Henry Bessemer's patent for the production of steel from pig-iron.[3] He managed to convince the initially skeptical English of the excellence of the Bessemer process and his support was instrumental to the international spread of the method.[4] Upon his return, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences gave him a sum of 50,000 Swedish crowns for financing steel production using the Bessemer process. The Bessemer method involved blasting a strong current of air through molten iron to burn off the carbon and other impurities. However, it proved difficult to keep the temperature high enough throughout the process.[5] After initial difficulties, Göransson successfully managed to produce steel on an industrial scale using the new process on 18 July 1858.[6][7][8][9]

He founded the firm Högbo Stål & Jernwerks AB on 31 January 1862 in Sandviken, Sweden[5][10] and presented the now commercially viable Bessemer process at the International Exhibition in London.[11][12] However, Göransson and the company entered into receivership in 1866 due to bad capital resources.[7] In 1868, the company was acquired and reconstructed into Sandvikens Jernverks AB[3] with his eldest son, Anders Henrik Göransson as managing director and Per Murén as chairman. The firm was able to quickly expand in large foreign industrial markets such as Germany, Great Britain and the United States mainly due to Göransson's extensive connections abroad, cultivated during his time as general manager in Elfstrand & Co.[13] Göransson would succeed Murén as the company's chairman in 1883.[6]

Göransson married Catharina Elisabeth Sehlberg on 31 May 1842. They had four sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Anders Henrik, would become managing director of Sandvikens Jernverks AB and would later succeed his father as chairman after his death.[6][14]

He is responsible for the founding of Sandviken in 1862, which grew from a small fishing community on the bay of the Storsjön lake to a thriving town around the steelworks that he had established, and where most residents worked or owed their livelihoods to the company.[15][16]

In the 1860s, Göransson founded Stiftelsen den Göranssonska Fonden, a foundation to help his firm's employees and their families to make ends meet. Along with two other foundations established by his descendants, the Foundation funds students' grants and treatment for the elderly, disabled and the chronically ill in the Sandviken Municipality.[17] The Foundation also financed the construction of Göransson Arena, a multi-purpose indoor arena used for entertainment, sporting and cultural activities, which is named after him.[18]

He died on 12 May 1900 in Sandviken and is buried in the Sandviken cemetery.[19]

• Grand Cross of the Order of Vasa[20]
• Knight of the Order of the Polar Star[20]
• Jernkontoret’s grand gold medal[7][20]
• Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences[20]

• Sandvik Coromant

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• The founder of Sandvik