- Linus Torvalds
Linus Benedict Torvalds ; born December 28, 1969 in Helsinki, Finland, is a Finnish software engineer best known for initiating the development of the Linux kernel. He now acts as the project's coordinator. Linus was inspired by Minix (an operating system developed by Andrew S. Tanenbaum) to develop a capable Unix-like operating system that could be run on a PC. Linux now also runs on many other architectures.
- Jean Sibelius
The core of Sibelius' oeuvre is his set of seven symphonies . Like Beethoven , Sibelius used each one to develop further his own personal compositional style. These works continue to be performed frequently in the concert hall and are often recorded. In addition to the symphonies, Sibelius' best-known compositions include Finlandia , Valse Triste , the violin concerto , the Karelia Suite and The Swan of Tuonela (one of the four movements of the Lemminkainen Suite ).
- Tove Jansson
Tove Marika Jansson was a Finnish novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. She is the author of, among other works, the Moomin books.
- Alexander Stubb
Alexander Stubb (born on 1 April 1968 in Helsinki) is a Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament with the National Coalition Party, part of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control and its Committee on Constitutional Affairs. He received the second highest number of votes of any parliamentarian in the 2004 EU election (115,224 votes).
- Johan Ludvig Runeberg
Johan Ludvig Runeberg written between 1848 and 1860. It is considered the greatest Finnish epic poem outside the native Kalevala tradition and contains tales of the Finnish War of 1808-09 with Russia. In the war, Sweden ignominiously lost Finland, which became a Grand Duchy in the Russian empire. The poem, which is composed episodically, emphasizes the common humanity of all sides in the conflict, while principally lauding the heroism of the Finns.
- Stefan Wallin
Stefan Erik Wallin in Vaasa is a Finland-Swedish politician. He is currently Finland's Minister for Culture and Sports in Matti Vanhanen's second cabinet. Wallin studied at the Åbo Akademi University in Turku, where he graduated with a Master's Degree in Social Sciences. He worked as a reporter for the newspaper "Vasabladet" 1989-1993, before acting as a research assistant for the Swedish People's Party.
- Linda Brava
Linda Brava, real name Linda Lampenius (born on February 26, 1970 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish violinist.
- Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (June 4, 1867 - January 28, 1951) was the Commander-in-Chief of Finland's Defence Forces, Marshal of Finland, an astute politician and a successful military commander. He was the sixth President of Finland (1944-1946). Mannerheim was born in the Grand Duchy of Finland to a notable Finnish noble family that had migrated during the 17th century to Sweden-Finland from the Netherlands.
- Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
Pehr Evind Svinhufvud af Qvalstad (December 15, 1861 - February 29, 1944) was the President of Finland from 1931 to 1937. Serving as a lawyer, judge, and politician in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland, he played a major role in the movement for Finnish independence. Svinhufvud was the first pre-presidential Head of State of independent Finland, first as Chairman of the Senate, and then subsequently as "Protector of State" or Regent.
- Georg Henrik von Wright
Georg Henrik von Wright (June 14, 1916 - June 16, 2003) was a Finnish philosopher, who succeeded Ludwig Wittgenstein as professor at the University of Cambridge. He published in English, Finnish, German, and in his mother tongue Swedish. Von Wright's writings come under two headings. The first is analytic philosophy and philosophical logic in the Anglo-American vein. His 1951 books, "An Essay in Modal Logic" and "Deontic Logic", …
- Albert Edelfelt
Albert Gustaf Aristides Edelfelt was a Finnish painter. Albert Edelfelt was born in Porvoo, Finland. His father Carl Albert was an architect. Edelfelt admired the poet laureate Johan Ludvig Runeberg who was a friend to the family. The company of Runeberg had a lasting impact on Edelfelt, who from time to time turned to scenes from Finnish history in his paintings. Edelfelt went on to illustrate Runeberg's epic poem "The Tales of Ensign Stål".
- Elisabeth Rehn
Märta Elisabeth Rehn is a former MP of the Swedish People's Party and the first woman as the Minister of Defence in Finland. In the 1994 presidential elections she was narrowly defeated by Martti Ahtisaari. Elisabeth Rehn spent her childhood in Mäntsälä where her father worked as a Community Medical Doctor. Rehn went to a local school in Mäntsälä before entering to a boarding school in Grankulla (fi. Kauniainen).
- Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
Baron (Nils) Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld ], also known as A. E. Nordenskioeld (November 18, 1832, Helsinki, Finland) - August 12, 1901, Dalby, Skåne, Sweden) was a geologist, mineralogist and arctic explorer and a member of the prominent Finland-Swedish "Nordenskiöld" family of scientists. Born in the Grand Duchy of Finland at the time it was a part of the Russian Empire, …
- Zacharias Topelius
"'Zacharias, who was distinguished as the earliest collector of Finnish folk-songs. As a child he heard his mother, Katarina Sofia Calamnius, sing the songs of the Finland-Swedish poet Franzén. At the age of eleven, he was sent to school in Uleåborg and boarded with relatives in the possession of a lending library, where he nurtured his fantasy with the reading of novels.
- Marcus Grönholm
Marcus "Bosse" Grönholm is a rally driver from Finland. He won the World Rally Championship in 2000 and 2002. He also won the 2002 Race of Champions, taking home the "Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy" and earning the title "Champion of Champions".
- Ole Torvalds
Ole Torvalds was a Finland-Swedish journalist and poet from Finland. He was the father of Nils Torvalds and grandfather of Linus Torvalds. His full name was Ole Torvald Elis Saxberg, but he was also named Karanko after his step father, Toivo T. Karanko. In 1935 when he had moved to Helsinki for studies he changed his name to Torvalds. In 1944 he was awarded a literature prize from "Svenska Dagbladet" (shared with Harry Martinson, …
- Nils Torvalds
Nils Torvalds is a Finnish broadcast journalist. He works with Swedish language radio and TV in Finland. He was based in Moscow, Russia 1995–1999. Since 2001 he has reported from Washington, DC, USA. Known to most as Nicke Torvalds, he is the son of the poet Ole Torvalds, and the father of the computer programmer Linus Torvalds of Linux kernel fame. Torvalds was active in the Communist Party of Finland since he was a college student in the 1960s.
- Jörn Donner
Jörn Johan Donner, is a Finnish writer, film director, actor, producer, politician, a member of the Donner family and the founder of Finnish Film Archive. He has been associated with several different political parties, and has at different times been a member both of the Finnish parliament and the European Parliament. As of 2007 he is again a member of the Finnish parliament, after Eva Biaudet resigned to take a position at the OSCE.
- Mårten Gustaf Mickos
Mårten Gustaf Mickos is chief executive officer of MySQL AB. He has served as chief executive officer since January 2001. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Mickos was CEO at MatchON Sports. Mickos has a Master's degree in Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology in Finland.
- Anders Chydenius
Anders Chydenius was the leading classical liberal of Nordic history. Born in Sotkamo (modern day Finland) and having studied under Pehr Kalm at the Royal Academy of Turku (Åbo), Finland (part of Sweden until 1809) Chydenius became a priest, Enlightenment philosopher and member of the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates. In 1765 he published a pamphlet called "The National Gain", in which he proposes ideas of free trade and industry, …
- Ragnar Granit
Ragnar Arthur Granit (October 30, 1900, Helsinki, Finland - March 12, 1991, Stockholm, Sweden) was a Finnish scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1967 along with Haldan Keffer Hartline and George Wald. Granit graduated in 1927 from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Helsinki, Finland. When Finland became the target of a massive Soviet attack in 1940 during the Winter War (1939 - 1940), …
- Lars Sonck
Lars Eliel Sonck was a Finnish architect. He graduated from Helsinki Polytechnic Institute in 1894 and immediately won a major design competition for a church in Turku, ahead of many established architects. Sonck ignored the growing trend toward architectural rationalism. Instead, he borrowed from the historical tradition of Finland's medieval stone structures and residential wood based architecture.
- Helene Schjerfbeck
Helene Schjerfbeck was a Finnish artist who has made her place in art history with her painting talent. Schjerfbeck’s art paved the way for many other female artists. Throughout her eighty-three years of life her work changed dramatically. <blockquote>"Her work starts with a dazzlingly skilled, somewhat melancholic version of late-19th-century academic realism…it ends with distilled, …
- Axel Lille
Axel Johan Lille was a Finnish journalist and politician of Finland-Swedish extraction and the main founder of the Swedish People's Party ("Svenska folkpartiet", SFP) and its leader 1907–1917. Lille was the first who publicly proposed Finnish independence in his speech in April 9 1902. Lille was member of the Diet of Finland for the Estate of Burghers 1885–1900 and member of Parliament of Finland in 1917.
- Karl-August Fagerholm
Karl-August Fagerholm was Speaker of Parliament and three times Prime Minister of Finland (1948-50, 1956-57, and 1958-58). Fagerholm became chairman of the Social Democrats after the armistice in the Continuation War. As a Scandinavia-oriented Swedish-speaking Finn, he was believed to be more to the taste of the Soviet Union's leadership than his predecessor Väinö Tanner.
- Edith Södergran
Edith Irene Södergran was a Finland-Swedish poet. Södergran was born in St Petersburg on April 4, 1892, the daughter of Matts and Helena Södergran. When Edith was a few months old, the family bought a summer home in the village Raivola on the Karelian Isthmus, where Edith was to spend most summers. At the age of 10, she started school at "Die deutsche Hauptschule zu S:t Petriin" in St Petersburg, where she stayed until 1909.
- Eugen Schauman
Eugen Schauman (born May 10, 1875 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Russian Empire; died June 16, 1904 in Helsinki, Finland, Russian Empire) was a Finnish nationalist who assassinated the Governor-General Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov.
- Mikael Forssell
Mikael Kaj Forssell (born March 15 1981 in Steinfurt, Germany) is a Finnish footballer who currently plays for Birmingham City who are in England's FA Premier League. Considered one of the most talented Finnish footballers of all time, Forssell made his Veikkausliiga debut for HJK at the age of just 16. His goal-scoring form for Finland's youth teams made him a target for a host of Europe's top clubs, …
- Henrik Lax
Henrik Lax (born Rolf Henrik Richard Lax on 6 May 1946 in Helsinki) is a Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament with the Swedish People's Party, Member of the Bureau of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. Lax is a substitute for the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, …
- Edvard Westermarck
Edvard Alexander Westermarck (November 20, 1862 - September 3, 1939) was a Finnish philosopher and sociologist. Among other subjects, he studied exogamy and the incest taboo. He is known for first noting the Westermarck effect in which infants raised together are unable to form sexual feelings for one another as adults, regardless of their genetic relationship. Whilst professoring at the London School of Economics he help found academic sociology in the United Kingdom.
- Michael Widenius
Ulf Michael Widenius, born March 3, 1962 in Helsinki, Finland is the main author of the original version of the open-source MySQL database and a founding member of the MySQL AB company. After studying at (although not graduating from) the Helsinki University of Technology, Widenius started working for Tapio Laakso Oy in 1981. In 1985 he founded TCX DataKonsult AB (a Swedish data warehousing company) with Allan Larsson.
- Sophie Mannerheim
Sophie Mannerheim (1863-1928) A famous nurse known as pioneer of modern nursing in Finland. She was daughter of a count and sister of a former Finnish President, marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. Her career started as a bank employee for 6 years until she got married in 1896. After her divorce in 1902 she was trained in nursing at the Nightingale School at St. Thomas Hospital in London.
- Anders Johan Lexell
Anders Johan Lexell (December 24 1740 - December 11 1784 (Julian calendar: November 30)) was a Finland-Swedish-born Russian astronomer and mathematician. In Russian he is known as Andrei Ivanovich Leksel (Андрей Иванович Лексель). His name is also given as Anders Johann Lexell or even Johann Anders Lexell. He emigrated to Russia in 1768. He studied the motions of comets.
- Jonatan Johansson
Jonatan Lillebror Johansson is a Finnish footballer who currently plays for Malmö FF in Sweden's national football league Allsvenskan. He plays in the position of a striker and is a regular in the Finnish national team
- Hans Wind
Hans Henrik "Hasse" Wind was a Finnish fighter pilot and flying ace in World War II with 75 official victories. Wind started his pilot career in 1938 by volunteering to a pilot course. He was a reserve officer in the Winter War 1939-1940 but didn't fly because of lack of available planes. He finished his officer examination in the summer of 1941 and after that he participated in the Continuation War in fighter squadron 24. He flew a Brewster B239, …
- Björn Kurtén
Björn Olof Lennartson Kurtén was a distinguished vertebrate paleontologist. He belonged to the Finland-Swedish minority in Finland. He was also the author of an acclaimed series of books about modern man's encounter with Neanderthals, such as "Dance of the Tiger" (1978, 1980). When asked what genre these works belonged in, Kurtén coined the term "paleofiction" to describe his oeuvre.
- Jan-Erik Enestam
Jan-Erik Enestam is a Finland-Swedish politician. Some previous posts he has held are: *Government of Åland, Head of Office, 1974-1978 *Municipality of Västanfjärd, Municipal Manager, 1978-1983 *Nordic Council of Ministers, Project Manager for Archipelago Cooperation, 1983-1991 *Municipal Council of Västänfjärd, Chairperson, 1989-1996 *Special Adviser to the Minister of Defence, 1990-1991 *Member of Parliament, 1991 onwards *Minister of Defence, …
- Björn Wahlroos
Björn Arne Christer Wahlroos is a Finnish investor. He is the CEO of Sampo Group. Wahlroos is also commonly known under the nickname "Nalle", which means "teddy bear" in Finnish and Swedish.
- Harry Harkimo
Harry "Hjallis" Harkimo (born: 1953) is a Finnish businessman. He is best-known as chairman of the board of the Helsinki-based ice-hockey team Jokerit, the developer of its home arena, Hartwall Areena (aka Hjallis-halli). and as an investor in sports. He has also been a professional sailor and a sports manager. Early 2000s, Hjallis divorced his member-of-parliament-wife Leena Harkimo and married younger member-of-parliament Merikukka Forsius-Harkimo.
- Gunnar Nordström
Gunnar Nordström was a Finnish theoretical physicist who is best remembered for his theory of gravitation, which was an early competitor of general relativity. Nordström completed his dissertation at the University of Helsinki in 1908, became a docent at the university, later worked for a couple of years in Leiden with Paul Ehrenfest, and became professor at the Helsinki University of Technology in 1918.