He finished his education in 1877 and graduated from university with the cand.real. degree in 1883. He started his career as an assistant at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, where he stayed from 1889, interrupted by a period in Berlin from 1886 to 1887. He was hired as a research fellow at the Royal Frederick University in 1889, and from 1891 he worked as a teacher and lecturer. He first worked at Trondhjem Technical School from 1891 to 1893, then at the Norwegian Naval Academy from 1893. He directed the Norwegian Metrology Service from 1914 to 1929.