Wilhelm Lagus
Humanist of the day

Wilhelm Lagus

Jakob Johan Wilhelm Lagus became known as the ‘festival organiser’. As university rector, he established good relations with the Tsar’s court through academic celebrations and tributes, which improved the position of the university. Lagus’s contribution to research is particularly apparent in his grammar of Arabic and Persian. He also recompiled the University of Turku’s register, which had been destroyed in the Great Fire.

Wilhelm Lagus

Jakob Johan Wilhelm Lagus
Born May 5, 1821, Turku. Died April 2, 1909, Lohja

BA, MA 1844, licentiate and PhD 1847, Imperial Alexander University

Rector of the Imperial Alexander University 1878–1884
Vice rector of the Imperial Alexander University 1875–1878
Professor of Greek Literature at the Imperial Alexander University 1866–1886
Professor of Oriental Literature at the Imperial Alexander University 1857–1866
Extraordinary clerk of the university library, Imperial Alexander University, 1844–1854
Docent of Greek Literature at the Imperial Alexander University 1846
Honorary supervisor of the Vyborg student’s club 1868–1881
Conferrer of degrees at the Faculty of Arts 1869

Honours
Honorary master’s degree 1894
Honorary doctorate 1897
Honour of the Council of the State 1883
Peerage 1880

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Written by Tero Juutilainen
Translated by Joe McVeigh

Third time’s a charm

Jakob Johan Wilhelm Lagus was born in Turku in 1821. The atmosphere in his home town, as well as his father’s job description at the university, first as an assistant and later as a professor, guided Lagus’s career into science.

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The rector and the ‘festival organiser’

Wilhelm Lagus worked as the vice rector and rector of the university for nine years. This was during a historically eventful period in Finland, when there was a change of tsars in Russia and the funerals of Elias Lönnrotin and J. V. Snellman. Lagus organised and participated in various events at least once a year.

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