Famous Finns
The Finns below all have Finnish roots. J.V. Snellman, a statesman and philosopher, and Elias Lönnrot, the creator of Kalevala are the main national Finnish figures in the 19th century.
The world-famous composer Jean Sibelius' works include strongly nationalistic symphonic poems such as Finlandia in 1900. Sibelius' family originally came from Artjärvi in Eastern Uusimaa. He went to Hämeenlinna Lyseo, a highly esteemed Finnish grammar school in the heart of Finnish speaking Häme.
Albert Edelfelt was a famous painter, who worked primarily in France. His famous protrait of Louis Pasteur hangs in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
The element Gadolinium was named after Finnish chemist Johan Gadolin, whose original Finnish last name was Isolin. Under Swedish rule Gadolin's family, as well as many others, in the 17th and 18th century had to give up their original Finnish family names in order to obtain an education. This was a period when Finnish names were Swedenized, Germanized and Latinized and in Gadolin's case, translated into Hebrew with a suffix in or lin. Gad in Hebrew means big, just as Finnish iso.
The distinguishing feature of Latinized names is -us or -ius, as in Chydenius. Antti Chydenius, an economist, presented the principles of the free trade before Adam Smith. Antti Chydenius was a priest in Kokkola. Unfortunately for him communication was not effective in the 18th century, so his ideas did not spread abroad.
Famous Finns in America and early explorers
John Morton was a descendant of the Finns who settled in Delaware in the 17th century; his original Finnish name was Marttinen and his family came from the county of Rautalampi in Central Finland. John Morton was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
Eero Saarinen and his father Eliel Saarinen were famous Finnish American architects.
Pietari (Pehr) Kalm was a Finnish explorer and botanist, who wrote the first description of the Niagara Falls.
The explorer A.E. Nordenskiöld was born in Helsinki, Finland. He was sympathetic to Finnish nationalistic concepts and was therefore expelled from Finland by the Tsarist governor of Finland. He was the first to navigate the Northeast Passage.
A descendant of the Finns who moved to Taalainmaa region in Central Sweden in the 17th century was Dan(iel) Andersson, later to became the national poet of Sweden.
The most famous of the Finnish Orientalists, Yrjö (George) Wallin, traveled around Arabian Peninsula in the 19th century. His memoir is a classic for the Orientalists. He was later awarded a medal by the Royal Geographic Society.
Väinö Auer explored the southermost part of South America. Paavo Nurmi is the greatest runner of all times.
