Albert Ulrik Bååth

• Name — Albert Ulrik Bååth • Born — 13 July 1853 • Birthplace — Malmö • Died — 2 August 1912 • Place of death — Gothenburg • Education — Doctor of Philosophy, 1886 Lund University • Occupation — Translator, lecturer, poet and writer • Movement — Literary realism • Relatives — Cecilia Bååth-Holmberg (sister)

Bååth was born the son of Lorentz Andreas Bååth, a Malmö preacher who, four years after his son's birth, would become a reverend in Hammarlöv. Bååth was therefore raised in Söderslätt, while attended a school in Malmö and would in 1871 become a student at Lund University. Early on, he caught an interest for the Icelandic language, particularly when visiting Copenhagen after receiving a stipend, when he was acquainted with lexicographer and author of an Icelandic dictionary, Eirikur Jonsson. In 1877, he graduated from Lund University with a B.A degree in philosophy and would move on to take his licentiate degree in 1884 and eventually finishing his doctoral thesis Studier öfver kompositionen i några isländska ättsagor in 1886. Between 1875 and 1879, he was a teacher at the higher education academy Hvilan where he would come to meet the principal Leonard Holmström. For some years, Bååth worked as a lecturer in Gothenburg and, in 1891, he would be named Intendent for the Gothenburg Museum's department of ethnography, as well as senior lecturer in Old Nordic literature at what would eventually become University of Gothenburg. Additionally, he was active for some years as a lecturer with Gothenburg's workers institute. His name is written on the balcony of the grand hall of the Academic Society's Castle in Lund. The Nordic enlightenment of the 1870s made a significant impression on Bååth, and this time had a profound impact on his works. He enthusiastically partook in the folk high school movement. In addition to his poetry, Bååth has also published works on Old Nordic literature and culture, and has also interpreted prominent Icelandic works. He was named a member of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg in 1889.

Bååth married Emma Charlotta "Lulli" Ahlberg (1864–1964) in 1894, who would outlive her husband by 52 years. Bååth was the brother of Cecilia Bååth-Holmberg.

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