Torgny Säve-Söderbergh was born in Lund on 29 June 1914 to Gotthard Söderbergh and Anna Säve.

From 1942-1980, he was a lecturer, then professor of Egyptology (1950) and dean (1960-1965) of the Faculty of Arts at Uppsala University.

When the Aswan Dam was being built in the 1960s, Säve-Söderbergh became the project leader for a joint Scandinavian expedition (1960-1964) in UNESCO's campaign to save temples and historical monuments from flooding, titled the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia.

The entire area was archaeologically investigated, and a large number of temples was saved.

He published his story of the expedition in the popular book Mission in Nubia: How the World Saved a Country's Cultural Monuments (1996).