Leena Hämet-Ahti (née Hämet, b. 3 January 1931, Kuusamo) is a Finnish botanist, plant taxonomist, and

plant collector Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting i ...

noted for being Associate Professor of Botany at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

, and later the Director of the university's Botanical Garden. She primarily studies alpine plants of Finland and similar northern hemisphere climates. Her PhD thesis, defended in 1963, was on mountain birch forests. She participated in the production of the seminal Finnish

floras Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms ''gut flora'' or ''skin flora''. Et ...

''Retkeilykasvio'' (1984, 1998) and ''Suomen puu- ja pensaskasvio'' (1992). Hämet-Ahti won the

Finnish Cultural Foundation Finnish Cultural Foundation ( fi, Suomen Kulttuurirahasto) is a private nonprofit foundation dedicated to the promotion of culture and science in Finland. The foundation's assets are about 1.1 billion euros, which makes it one of the largest priva ...

prize in 1990 and the silver Kairamo medal in 2007 "in recognition of her many merits in botany, university teaching, science popularisation and fostering Finnish cultural heritage". Her book ''Maarianheinä, mesimarja ja timotei'' won a in 1987 and her ''Suomen puu- ja pensaskasvio'' was selected as in 1989. Hämet-Ahti has been a member of the

Finnish Academy of Science and Letters The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (Finnish ''Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia''; Latin ''Academia Scientiarum Fennica'') is a Finnish learned society. It was founded in 1908 and is thus the second oldest academy in Finland. The oldest is the Fi ...

since 1991. She is married to botanist and lichenologist Teuvo Ahti.

References

1931 births Finnish women scientists 20th-century Finnish botanists Living people 21st-century Finnish botanists {{Finland-botanist-stub