View source for Lars Magnus Ericsson

{{Short description|Swedish inventor}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox person
|name        = Lars Magnus Ericsson
|image       = Swedish inventor Lars Magnus Ericsson.jpg
|alt         = L. M. Ericsson
|caption     = 
|birth_date  = {{Birth date|df=yes|1846|05|05}}
|birth_place = [[Grums Municipality|Värmskog]], [[Union between Sweden and Norway|Sweden–Norway]]
|death_date  = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1926|12|17|1846|05|05}}
|death_place = [[Botkyrka]], Sweden
|other_names = 
|known_for   = Founder of [[telephone]] equipment manufacturer [[Ericsson]]
|occupation  = [[Inventor]], [[entrepreneur]]
|nationality = Swedish
}}

[[Image:Lars Magnus Ericsson statue Telefonplan Midsomarkransen Stockholm 2005-08-13.JPG|thumb|right|Bust of L. M. Ericsson at [[Telefonplan]] in Stockholm]]

'''Lars Magnus Ericsson''' ({{IPA|sv|lɑːʂ ˈmǎŋːnɵs ˈêːrɪkˌsɔn|-|Sv-Lars_Magnus_Ericsson.ogg}}; 5 May 1846 – 17 December 1926) was a Swedish [[inventor]], entrepreneur and founder of [[telephone]] equipment manufacturer [[Ericsson]] ([[incorporation (business)|incorporated]] as ''Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson'').

== Early life ==
Lars Magnus was born in [[Grums Municipality|Värmskog]], [[Värmland]], and grew up in the small village of Vegerbol located between [[Karlstad]] and [[Arvika]]. At the age of 12, Ericsson's father died forcing him to seek work as a [[miner]]. He worked until he had enough money to leave the village and move to Stockholm in 1867. He then worked for six years for an instrument maker named ''Öllers & Co.'' who mainly created [[Telegraphy|telegraph]] equipment. Because of his skills, he was given two state scholarships to study instrument making abroad between 1872 and 1875. One of the companies he worked at was [[Siemens AG|Siemens & Halske]].

== Career ==
Upon his return to Sweden in 1876, he founded a small mechanical workshop together with his friend Carl Johan Andersson who had also worked at ''Öllers & Co.''. This workshop was actually a former kitchen of some 13&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup> situated at Drottninggatan 15 in the most central part of Stockholm. Here, he started a [[telephone]] company by analyzing Bell company and Siemens telephones and creating his own copies in their image. It was not until they started cooperating with Henrik Tore Cedergren in 1883 that the company would start to grow into the [[Ericsson]] corporation.

In the year 1900 Lars Magnus retired from Ericsson at the age of 54.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Reinius |first1=Katarina |title=Lars Magnus Ericsson, 1876-1900 |url=https://www.ericsson.com/en/about-us/history/people/presidents/lars-magnus-ericsson-1876-1900 |website=Ericsson.com © Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and Centre for Business History |accessdate=18 September 2023 |date= }}</ref> He kept his shares in the company until 1905 and then sold them all.

He is said to have been a demanding person, and disliked any direct publicity about his personality and did not wish to be idolized. He was, however, deeply respected by his employees. He was always a skeptic and cautious in business. He was also somewhat opposed to [[patent]]s, as many of the products he made would not have been possible to do if the patent legislation had been overly effective. When his phones were copied by Norwegian companies he did not care, as his phones had in turn been largely copied from Siemens. He initially did not believe in a [[mass market]] for telephones, and saw it as a toy for the leisure class.

== Personal life ==
Ericsson married [[Hilda Simonsson]] in 1878. They had four children together: Johan (1879–1881), Gustaf (1880–1965), Anna (1881–1967) and Lars Magnus Jr. "Lalle" (1892–1921). When their daughter Anna was only six weeks old, their eldest son Johan died from [[Pulmonary edema|pulmonary oedema]]. The couple also lost their son Lalle at a young age to tuberculosis.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wistrand |first1=Birgitta |title=Familjen Ericssons hemligheter : en studie med frågetecken. |last2=Centrum för genusvetenskap |date=2012 |publisher=Centrum för genusvetenskap |location=Uppsala |language=Swedish |oclc=939794482}}</ref>

== Death ==
After his death in 1926, he was buried at [[Hågelby gård]] in [[Botkyrka]]. At his explicit request, there is no [[headstone]] marking his grave.

==See also==
*[[Simone Giertz]]

==References==
<references />

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ericsson, Lars Magnus}}
[[Category:1846 births]]
[[Category:1926 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Grums Municipality]]
[[Category:19th-century Swedish inventors]]
[[Category:Swedish miners]]
[[Category:Ericsson people]]
[[Category:19th-century Swedish businesspeople]]