Birgitta Oden was born on 11 August 1921 in Uppsala. She was the daughter of Professor Sven Odén and Agnes Bergman, and the sister of Svante Odén.[9] Odén received a Master of Philosophy in 1944, a Licentiate in 1947 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Lund in 1955. She was the professor of history at Lund University from 1965 to 1987. At the time of her appointment, she was both Sweden's first female professor of history[10] and the first ever female professor at Lund University. (Carin Boalt had been appointed as a professor at LTH the year before, which at the time was still an independent university.)[1][2][11][12][13]
Birgitta Odén wrote her dissertation on Swedish 16th century fiscal policy.[14][15] She later worked on environmental history and social history.[16] In 1998 she received the Gerontology Prize, which is awarded by the Nordic Gerontological Society, and in 2005 she received the Great Gerontology Prize, which is awarded by the Swedish Gerontological Society.[1][2][17]
In 1953, she married Major Uno Dunér (1886–1983), son of the bank director Fritiof Dunér and Charlotta Helena Sjöberg.[18] Together, they had a son Mårten Dunér (born 1956), an architect.[19][9]
