Abo Akademi Library, Turku, Finland

We viewed the dissertation of Peter Kalm. Peter Kalm was a Swedish-Finnish explorer, botanist, naturalist, and agricultural economist. He was one of the most important apostles of Carl Linnaeus.

In 1747 he was commissioned by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to travel to the North American colonies and to bring back seeds and plants that might be useful to agriculture. Among his many scientific accomplishments, Kalm can be credited for the first description of Niagara Falls, along the border of New York (United States) and Canada, written by someone trained as a scientist. In addition, he published the first scientific paper on the North American, 17-year periodical cicada Magicicada septendecim.


We also got to see their extensive collection of children's books. Which included the Moomins (Swedish: Mumintroll, Finnish: Muumi) who are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish in Finland. They are a family of white, roundish fairy tale characters with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses. The carefree and adventurous family live in their house in Moominvalley, though in the past their temporary residences have included a lighthouse and a theatre. They have had many adventures along with their various friends.

Children's Book

Little My

Swedish Museum, of Natural History, Stockholm

The Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, is one of two major museums of natural history in Sweden, the other one being located in Gothenburg.

The museum was founded in 1819 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, but goes back to the collections acquired mostly through donations by the Academy since its foundation in 1739. These collections had first been made available to the public in 1786. The Museum was separated from the Academy in 1965.

One of the keepers of the collections of the Academy during its earlier history was Anders Sparrman, a student of Linnaeus and participant in the voyages of Captain James Cook. Another important name in the history of the Museum is the zoologist, paleontologist and archaeologist Sven Nilsson, who brought the previously disorganised zoological collections of the Museum into order during his time as keeper (1828–1831) before returning to Lund as professor.

The present buildings for the museum in Frescati, Stockholm, was designed by the architect Axel Anderberg and completed in 1916, topped with a dome; the main campus of Stockholm University was later built next to the museum.

The museum has an IMAX cinema called Cosmonova. The cinema is also the largest planetarium in Sweden.

Viewing the collection.

Painting and specimen.