NanoMAR's co-founder, a marine biologist and water-purification researcher at the University of Bergen, has died. Behnood Sjåstad Fathi on ten years of working beside him.
It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Professor Thorolf Magnesen, co-founder of NanoMAR.
For nearly ten years I had the privilege of working closely with him — testing ideas, developing technologies, solving problems, and imagining new ways to protect and improve our marine ecosystems. Together we built this company from the ground up.
What follows is not a company announcement. It is what I want to say about him.
Thorolf was a professor at the University of Bergen, and his research career was spent on water purification. That work is the ground this company stands on: what happens at a gas–liquid interface below 200 nanometres, why those bubbles do not coalesce, and why a charged interface moving through water behaves so unlike a bubble rising through it.
His role here was the scientific one. He reviewed what we claimed, and he drew the line between what the science supports and what would merely sound good. Anyone who has worked in this industry knows how rare that is, and how much quieter a company becomes when someone is willing to say that a number is not ready.
He was a brilliant scientist. What made him exceptional was his humility.
For nearly ten years we worked closely together — testing ideas, developing technologies, solving problems, and imagining new ways to protect and improve marine ecosystems with nanobubbles. We founded NanoMAR in Bergen and built it from the ground up into something we are deeply proud of.
He devoted his life to marine biology, to innovation, and to the health of the oceans. Working beside him was not only an honour; every day was a lesson in science, in perseverance, in curiosity, and in humanity.
Even on the days he was in extreme pain, he would still call to talk through an idea for improving our systems.
His dream was the Oslofjord. That is why, from the first day, the work was aimed at a scale large enough to matter to a body of water rather than to a single tank — and why so much of what NanoMAR builds is pointed at the largest installations rather than the easiest ones.
NanoMAR would not be what it is today without his knowledge, his dedication, and his belief in what we could build together. His contribution stays at the heart of this company and in every technology we go on to develop. I would like to believe that something of him is carried in every bubble we make.
I have lost a co-founder, a mentor, a colleague and a friend. Our thoughts are with his family and with everyone who loved him.
Rest in peace, Professor. Your work and your legacy live on.
