In 1877 he received his medical degree from the  University of Kristiania (now University of Oslo) later studying ophthalmology in Vienna, where he befriended Ernst Fuchs (1851-1930), and in Paris, where he was employed as "directeur adjoint" in the ophthalmology laboratory at the Sorbonne.
In 1877 he received his medical degree from the University of Kristiania (now University of Oslo) later studying ophthalmology in Vienna, where he befriended Ernst Fuchs (1851-1930), and in Paris, where he was employed as "adjoint director" in the ophthalmology laboratory at the Sorbonne.