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.
He received his medical degree from the University of Kristiania (now University of Oslo) in 1877 and went on to study ophthalmology in Vienna, where he formed a friendship with Ernst Fuchs, and later worked as an assistant director in the ophthalmology lab at the Sorbonne in Paris.