Pehr Kalm

Who was Pehr Kalm?

Pehr 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 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.