Oiva Tuulio
Humanist of the day

Oiva Tuulio

Oiva Tuulio was among the first Finnish Hispanists. He began the work of making Spanish culture and literature known to a larger audience in Finland. Tuulio was among the first to organise practical Spanish courses at the University of Helsinki. As a professor and as chairman of the Satakuntalainen student nation, he also participated in the cultural education of students outside the lecture theatre.

Oiva Tuulio

Oiva Johannes Tuulio (Tallgren –1933)
Born January 17, 1878, Pyhäjärvi. Died June 21, 1941, Helsinki

Master of Arts 1901, Licentiate and PhD 1907, Imperial Alexander University
Study visits to Paris 1901–02 and Southern Europe 1903–04, 1907–08, 1926 and 1931

Professor extraordinary of Southern Romance languages 1928–41, University of Helsinki
Amanuensis at the Department of History and Language Sciences 1920–34, University of Helsinki
Acting professor of Romance philology 1913–14, Imperial Alexander University
Docent in Southern Romance languages, 1910, Imperial Alexander University
Latin teacher 1906–07, acting principal 1909–10, French teacher 1910–11, Helsinki Normal Lyceum

Board member of the Finnish Oriental Society 1933–35 and vice-chairman 1935–41
Chairman of the Satakuntalainen student nation 1931–34
Auxiliary member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters 1910 and member 1925

Honours
Romania’s Medal of Cultural Merit
France’s Officier de l’Instruction publique (Golden Palms) 1926
Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy 1929, Commander 1938

Photo: Helsingin yliopistomuseo
Written by Tomas Sjöblom
Translated by Matthew Billington

Populariser of Spanish culture

The son of the vicar of Maaria, Oiva Johannes Tallgren, later to change his name to the more Finnish Tuulio, enrolled at the Imperial Alexander University to study Classical and modern languages in 1896. Tuulio was particularly interested in Southern Romance languages, and was later to become the…

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