Axel Heiberg (16 March 1848 – 4 September 1932) was a Norwegian diplomat and financier as well as a patron of the arts and sciences.
His father was a professor at the University of Kristiania and general surgeon in the Norwegian Army.
[2] Heiberg studied abroad and was for a period Norwegian consul in China.
Together with shipping magnate Thomas Fearnley, the brewery sponsored the polar expeditions of Fridtjof Nansen and Otto Sverdrup, and funded the construction of the exploration vessel Fram.
He also funded the statues of Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson located outside the National Theater in Oslo.