Home / Birthday profiles / Peter Wessel Zapffe
Portrait of Peter Wessel Zapffe

Birthday profile

Peter Wessel Zapffe

Peter Wessel Zapffe, Norwegian philosopher and author (died 1990)

Find birthday twinsOpen interactive profile
Born
December 18, 1899
Died
October 12, 1990
Zodiac sign
Sagittarius
Birth year
1899

About Peter Wessel Zapffe

Peter Wessel Zapffe (; Norwegian: [ˈsɑ̂pfə]; 18 December 1899 – 12 October 1990) was a Norwegian philosopher, author, artist, lawyer and mountaineer. He is often noted for his philosophically pessimistic and fatalistic view of human existence. His system of philosophy was inspired by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, as well as his firm advocacy of antinatalism. His thoughts regarding the error of human life are presented in the essay "The Last Messiah" ("Den sidste Messias", 1933). This essay is a shorter version of his best-known work, the philosophical treatise On the Tragic (Om det tragiske, 1941).

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Peter Wessel Zapffe timeline

  1. Born: December 18, 1899
  2. Died: October 12, 1990

The world when Peter Wessel Zapffe was born

Peter Wessel Zapffe was born in 1899. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlinePhilippine-American War begins
  • Technology milestoneFirst magnetic recording of sound
  • World population~1.59B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWilliam McKinley
  • U.S. population72.0M

1899 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Peter Wessel Zapffe's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18992026
Population72.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.