Carl Reinhold Sahlberg by Johan Erik Lindh - Arppeanum - DSC05218

Carl Reinhold Sahlberg (January 22, 1779,

Eura Eura () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Satakunta region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The muni ...

– October 18, 1860,

Yläne Yläne () is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated to Pöytyä on 1 January 2009. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality had a population of 2,119 (2004-12-3 ...

) was a Finnish

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, primarily an

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

specializing in

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s. He was the father of entomologist

Reinhold Ferdinand Sahlberg Reinhold Ferdinand Sahlberg (23 December 1811, Åbo – 18 March 1874, Yläne) was a Finnish naturalist notably specialising in entomology. He was the son of the entomologist and botanist Carl Reinhold Sahlberg (1774–1860) and the father of th ...

(1811–1874), grandfather of entomologist Johan Reinhold Sahlberg (1845–1920), and great grandfather of Uunio Saalas (1882–1969).

Biography

In 1818 Carl Reinhold Sahlberg succeeded Carl Niclas Hellenius as professor of

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

and natural history at

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

’s then only University in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

(Åbo), the

Academy of Åbo The Royal Academy of Turku or the Royal Academy of Åbo was the first university in Finland, and the only Finnish university that was founded when the country still Finland under Swedish rule, was a part of Sweden. It was founded in 1640. In 180 ...

. In 1827 the town and the university were destroyed by fire. The remnants of the natural history collections were taken to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

where the University then moved under the name of Imperial Alexander University in Finland (and eventually became

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

in 1918). Sahlberg replaced the lost collections, played a major role in establishing a new

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

in Helsinki, and with his pupils organised a scientific society " Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica". Its only scope was

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

. The society widened to include other sectors of

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

only in 1921. Sahlberg's son

, grandson Johan Reinhold Sahlberg and his son Uunio Saalas were also entomologists.

Works

*''Dissertatio entomologica insecta Fennica enumerans (Coleoptera)'' 1834

Collections

Sahlberg's insect collection is in the

Finnish Museum of Natural History The Finnish Museum of Natural History (, ), established in 1988, is a research institution under the University of Helsinki in Finland, based in Helsinki, Finland. It is a natural history museum responsible for the national botanical, zoological, ...

References

External links

Biography in Swedish
1779 births 1860 deaths Naturalists from the Russian Empire People from Eura Finnish entomologists Academic staff of the University of Helsinki {{entomologist-stub