Eino Jutikkala

Who was Eino Jutikkala?

Eino Kaarlo Ilmari Jutikkala, until 1931 Eino Rinne, was a Finnish historian, and professor of history at the University of Helsinki from 1950 to 1974. He had an exceptionally long and prolific career, and is considered one of the most important Finnish historians of the 20th century.

Jutikkala wrote mainly about collective phenomena in history, focussing on social and economic history. His main contributions are in the areas of early modern period economic history and historical demography. His methodological innovations are also thought to have greatly improved the quality of local history research in Finland.

For generations of English-speaking readers he has made Finland's history known through his book A History of Finland, written with Kauko Pirinen.

In his will, Jutikkala donated twenty-two million euros to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters to be used to support research in the humanities.