The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters has published a new book by Johan C-E Stén, En finsk Arkimedes: Gustaf Gabriel Hällströms liv och vetenskap.

The biography portrays the physicist Gustaf Gabriel Hällström while also providing insight into the development of the empirical sciences within the Finnish university system during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Hällström was the last professor of physics at the Royal Academy of Turku and the first professor of physics at the Imperial Alexander University in Helsinki. Born into modest circumstances in a clerical family from Ostrobothnia, he rose to become a distinguished academic administrator whose achievements eventually led to the ennoblement of his children. In addition to his scientific work, he served as a parish priest and as inspector of several student nations and the university orchestra, Akademiska kapellet.

Hällström’s research focused primarily on experimental and quantitative physics. He carried out extensive meteorological and climatological observations in Turku and Helsinki and analysed the results using statistical methods. Particularly significant were his studies of the physical properties of water. By applying the method of least squares, he was able to determine with remarkable precision the temperature at which water reaches its maximum density. His efforts led to the construction of the university’s first observatory in Turku, which was equipped with the most advanced scientific instruments of the time.

During his lifetime, Hällström was the university’s most internationally renowned scholar. He was also one of the founders of The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters and served as its first chairman.

The publication is available online and can also be purchased from the Tiedekirja Bookstore at Snellmaninkatu 13, Helsinki.