Pehr Kalm

Born on March 6, 1716, in Ångermanland, Sweden, Pehr Kalm grew up in Finland and went on to become a naturalist, explorer, and professor at the Royal Academy of Turku. He studied under Carl Linnaeus, one of the most influential scientists of the era, and became part of the wide network of Linnaean students who traveled to collect knowledge about plants and the natural world.

Kalm is best known for his journey to North America in the late 1740s. Traveling through parts of present-day the United States and Canada, he studied native and cultivated plants, agriculture, and local customs, hoping to find useful species that could be introduced to Sweden and Finland. His travel account became an important record not only for botany but also for colonial life in North America.

He spent much of his later career teaching and writing in Turku, where he remained a respected figure in natural history until his death on November 16, 1779. Today, he is remembered for combining careful scientific observation with a traveler’s eye for the people and places around him.