Peter Waage was born on June 29, 1833, the son of shipmaster and ship owner Peter Pedersen Waage and Regine Lovise Wattne Waage, on the island of Hitter (now Hidra) near Flekkefjord, Norway, about 200 miles southeast of Christinia (now Oslo). He was raised on this island, where his forefathers had lived as seamen for centuries. Because his father was usually at sea, Waage grew up mostly under the care of his mother, who was his first teacher. He was able to read by the age of about four. When Waage's precocity became known, it was decided that he should receive further education rather than follow the traditional family occupation of seafaring. As a youth , he had a large collection of minerals, plants, and insects, and some of his first publications dealt with mineralogy and crystallography.

Waage's first regular schooling began at Flekkefjord when he was 11. The school principal persuaded him...