Editing Arendal (section)

=== Public service and public thinking ===
* [[Jens Munk]] (1579–1628), a Dano-Norwegian navigator and explorer who searched for the [[Northwest Passage]] to India
* [[Andreas Frederik Krieger]] (1817–1893), a politician, government minister, and supreme court judge
* [[Anton Christian Houen]] (1823–1894), a teacher, philanthropist, and businessman
* [[Yngvar Nielsen]] (1843–1916), a historian, politician, and geographer
* [[Sam Eyde]] (1866–1940), an engineer and industrialist who founded [[Norsk Hydro]]
* [[Magnus Olsen]] (1878–1963), a philologist who specialized in [[Scandinavian studies|Old Norse studies]]
* [[Lucy Pedersen]], a climate change activist 
* [[Alf Dannevig]] (1886–1960), a marine biologist and mayor of [[Hisøy]] from 1948 to 1960
* [[Sigrid Stray]] (1893–1978), a barrister and proponent of women's rights
* [[Sigurd Anderson]] (1904–1990), the 19th [[List of governors of South Dakota|Governor of South Dakota]] (1951 to 1955)
* [[Ebba Lodden]] (1913–1997), a civil servant and politician who was the first female [[County governor (Norway)|county governor in Norway]] 
* [[Lilly Bølviken]] (1914–2011), a judge, women's rights advocate, and first woman [[Supreme Court of Norway|Norwegian Supreme Court Justice]] from 1968 to 1984
* [[Aksel Lydersen]] (1919–1995), an engineer and professor of [[chemical engineering]]
* [[Svenn Stray]] (1922–2012), a politician who served twice as [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway)|Foreign Minister of Norway]]
* [[Magnhild Lien]] (born ca.1955), a mathematician specializing in [[knot theory]] 
* [[Grete Faremo]] (born 1955), a politician, lawyer, and business leader
* [[Hege Storhaug]] (born 1962), a political and human rights activist, journalist, and author