Marjatta Hietala

AcAdemy AwArd Marjatta Hietala the winner of the Academy Award for She herself regards it as having been 2017, Professor emerita Marjatta Hietala highly important for her research that she (née Puusa), is one of the most outstand- had worked for some time in the Ministry ing Finnish historians, who has done of the Interior and in the planning depart- much to develop the methodology of his- ment of the Prime Minister’s Office (taking torical research, extending its field of part in the work of the Devolution Com- study in the direction of the social scienc- mittee and the Growth Centre Committee) es and adopting an active role in the inter- before embarking on a university career. It national academic community. was in these capacities that she first felt Having obtained her doctorate from that the decisions made at that level were the University of Helsinki in 1976, she not backed up with sufficiently thorough- worked first as an associate professor at going information, and so it was that one that university and as a researcher with of her pioneering topics as a scholar came the Academy of Finland before moving to to be urban research, in which she had an the University of Joensuu in 1994 to take extensive international network of collab- up the position of professor of general orators. history. She then became professor of gen- ”It has been extremely useful as far as eral history at the University of Tampere my own research has been concerned that in 1996, a post which she occupied until I was able to have first-hand experience of 2011, apart from a five-year period as a decision-making processes and see what professor with the Academy of Finland. kind of background material is needed for She has occupied many honorary posi- this purpose. Studying statistics helped me tions in the academic world both in Fin- to understand the sizes of the bodies of land and internationally. material required for making justifiable 18 AcAdemiA ScientiArum FennicA 2017 Professor emerita Marjatta Hietala is one of the most outstanding Finnish historians generalizations on various matters,” Mar- Thus it is not surprising that one of her in- jatta Hietala maintains, and she has indeed terests has been the history of science and introduced into the study of history a vari- innovations. ”I began to be interested in ety of methods that are typically used in how Finland could enjoy access to the very the natural sciences, especially quantita- latest scientific knowledge, and what fac- tive methods involving the analysis of long tors could promote this, but it required the time series. She is inclined to be suspicious collection and analysis of vast amounts of of the trend for contenting oneself with a material and a great deal of international small body of material and studying it cooperation to find the answer.” qualitatively, above all if the intention is to Her research has indeed stood apart arrive at far-reaching generalizations. from the mainstream of historical studies Professor Hietala was responsible for in that it has involved participation in in- introducing the technique of ”oral history” ternational research groups. It is essential based on interviews into Finland, and it to become involved in international com- was at her instigation that researchers em- parative research, because success in this barked on a project to interview veteran field calls for interaction, for give and members of the Finnish parliament. A cor- take. It is all a matter of exchange. The pus of interviews with more than 400 topics of our research should be suffi- members is now available in the Library of ciently broad that they can be discussed Parliament. at the international level,” she claims. ”I have always been attracted by the For Marjatta Hietala, participation in prospect of breaking new ground rather international research projects has also than going over old things and following in opened the way to membership of the other people’s tracks,” she reminds us. board of the ”International Committee of AcAdemiA ScientiArum FennicA 2017 19 Historical Sciences”, to which she was ence and Letters in 1997. She was award- elected in 2005. She then became presi- ed a prize by the Finnish Cultural Founda- dent of the organization for the years tion in 2010 and the Theodor Homén Prize 2010-2015, the first and to date the only by the Finnish Society of Sciences and Let- woman to hold this position. In this and ters in 2013. An honorary doctorate was many other respects she has served as a conferred on her by Stockholm University role model for many female academics in in 2012. She has now become the 83rd re- Finland and elsewhere. cipient of the Finnish Academy of Science Professor Marjatta Hietala was elected and Letters Academy Award, the current a member of the Finnish Academy of Sci- value of which is 15,000 euros. The Academy Award highest honour that the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters can confer on a scholar in recognition of his life’s work. The Academy has awarded the Academy Award since 1945. Picture: Niina Stolt / Studio Onni 20 AcAdemiA ScientiArum FennicA 2017.

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