A picture commonly believed to portray Kalm, although some modern-day historians have suggested it may be of Kalm's colleague Pehr Gadd.[1] Painted byJohan Georg Geitel, 1764.
In 1747, he was commissioned by theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences to travel to the North American colonies in order to bring back seeds and plants that might be useful to agriculture. Among his many scientific accomplishments, Kalm can be credited with the first description ofNiagara Falls written by a trained scientist.[2] In addition, he published the first scientific paper on the North American 17-year periodical cicada,Magicicada septendecim.
Kalm wrote an account of his travels that was translated into numerous European languages; a 20th-century translation remains in print in English asPeter Kalm's Travels in North America: The English Version of 1770, translated by Swedish-American scholarAdolph B. Benson.
Kalm was born to Gabriel Kalm and Katarina Ross inÅngermanland,Sweden, where his parents had taken refuge fromFinland during theGreat Northern War. His father was aFinnish clergyman and his mother was of Scottish ancestry.[3] His father died six weeks after his birth. When the hostilities were over, his widowed mother returned with him toNärpes inOstrobothnia, where Kalm's father had been a Lutheran minister.
Kalm did field research in Sweden,Russia, andUkraine from 1742 to 1746, when he was appointeddocent of natural history and economics at the Royal Academy of Åbo. In 1747, the academy elevated him to professor of economics. That same year, he was also appointed by Linnaeus and theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences (of which he had been a member since 1745) to travel to North America to find seeds and plants that might prove useful for agriculture or industry. In particular, they wanted him to bring back thered mulberry in the hope of starting asilk industry in Finland (which was then an integral part of Sweden).
On his journey from Sweden toPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, Kalm spent six months inEngland, where he met many of the important botanists of the day. Kalm arrived in Pennsylvania in 1748; there he was befriended byBenjamin Franklin and naturalistJohn Bartram. Kalm based his explorations at the Swedish-Finnish community of Raccoon, which is nowSwedesboro, New Jersey inSouth Jersey. This town had been founded as part of the former Swedish colony ofNew Sweden. There, he also served as the substitute pastor ofTrinity Church, the localSwedish Lutheran church. Kalm subsequently married Anna Margaretha Sjöman, the widow of Johan Sandin, the former pastor. He remained in Raccoon until 19 May 1749.[5]
Kalm made trips as far west asNiagara Falls and as far north asMontreal andQuebec before returning to Finland in 1751. He took a post as professor at the Royal Academy of Åbo. In addition to teaching and directing students, he established botanical gardens inÅbo. He taught at the academy until his death in Åbo in 1779.[6]
Anders Chydenius, another noted scientist, was a student of Pehr Kalm's.
Illustration ofCohoes Falls, from the bookEn Resa til Norra America by Pehr Kalm
Kalm's journal of his travels was published asEn Resa til Norra America (Stockholm, 1753–1761). It was translated into German, Dutch, and French. Kalm described not only the flora and fauna of the New World, but also the lives of theNative Americans and theBritish andFrench colonists whom he met.[7] A United States edition was later translated and edited by Swedish-American scholar and literary historianAdolph B. Benson (1881–1961). It was published asPeter Kalm's Travels in North America: The English Version of 1770 (Wilson-Erickson Inc., 1937). This version has become an important standard reference regarding life in colonial North America and has been in continuous print in several updated editions.
Kalm's paper on the lifecycle of the North American 17-yearperiodical cicada,Magicicada septendecim, was the first published scientific description of the species and its recurrent appearances.[8]
In hisSpecies Plantarum, Linnaeus cites Kalm for 90 species, 60 of them new, including the genusKalmia, which Linnaeus named after Kalm.Kalmia latifolia (Mountain-laurel) is the state flower of Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
TheMint of Finland issued a coin in Kalm's honor.[9] He is regarded as one of the most notableFinnish explorers. In Finland he is also known as Pietari Kalm.[10][11][12]
^Jarrell, Richard A."KALM, PEHR".Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved2 September 2019.... son of Gabriel Kalm, a Finnish clergyman, and Catherine Ross, of Scots ancestry; ...
^Kuosmanen, Jukka (26 November 2015)."Pehr Kalm mittaa Niagaran putokset" (in Finnish).Yle. Retrieved2 September 2019.... Maailmalta katsottuna Kalm on ylivoimaisesti tunnetuin suomalainen tutkimusmatkailija.
Robbins, Paula IvaskaThe Travels of Peter Kalm: Finnish-Swedish Naturalist Through Colonial North America, 1748-1751.Purple Mountain Press, 2007.ISBN978-1-930098-80-0
Kerkkonen, Martti.Peter Kalm's North American Journey: Its Ideological Background and Results. Helsinki, 1959.
