Mathematics and science education research are young disciplines in Sweden. As a lecturer at the Department of Mathematics and Science Education at Stockholm Institute of Education, Svend Pedersen took the initiative in the late 1970s to incorporate results from science education research into the curricula of teacher education. It is by taking his courses that many school teachers and teacher educators have had their first introduction to education research. Svend Pedersen was also the first person to defend a doctoral thesis in Science Education at Stockholm University. Research at the Department of Mathematics and Science Education rests on the foundation laid by Svend Pedersen.