Fredrik Glad Balchen

right|frameless Fredrik Glad Balchen (6 April 1815 – 24 April 1899) was a Norwegian teacher of the deaf.

Personal and early life Balchen was born on 6 April 1815, in Bergen, to chaplain Johan Peter Balchen (1783–1827) and his wife Christiane Wilhelmine Gulbrandsen (1789–1819). He married Benjamine Walgerda Heiberg (1845–1926) on 16 September 1869, the daughter of Caspar Cappelen Heiberg (1814–1855) and Emilie Christine Hansine Bjertnæs (1824–1865).

The executive board at the deaf school in Trondheim was sceptical towards Balchen, apparently because of his lack of religious education. He nevertheless gained a half-year stay at the school, impressing the authorities with his command of French orthography. The Norwegian government subsequently sponsored Balchen's study trip to Germany.

In 1857, the school was moved from Karl Johans gate—approximately where Grand Hotel is today—to Schafteløkken at Elisenberg, Frogner. Five years later, the school was nationalised.