Marja Ilmatar Väisälä (9 May 1916, Helsinki, Finland[1] – 21 December 2011, Turku) was a Finnish teacher of mathematics and natural sciences, who in 1950 founded a private school in Swakopmund in what is now Namibia, where she taught the children of Finnish missionaries.
However, she had heard from one of the student friends, Lahja Väänänen, of missionary work in Ovamboland.
[5][6] Before Väisälä arrived in South West Africa, the Finnish missionaries there had heard of a “master of sciences in astronomy”, and they were afraid that such a highly learned person might not be suitable for teaching small children.
Some of the missionaries favoured Ovamboland, and it is clear that they were thinking that some of the children would be able to live at home when attending the school.
The matter was finally resolved by the board of the Finnish Missionary Society, which, like Väisänen, favoured Swakopmund as the location of the new school.
On the last day of May that year, she signed a bill of purchase for two adjacent lots in the future Vineta neighbourhood.
History was taught according to Finnish textbooks, but in geography and biology she concentrated on local circumstances, plants and animals.
[11] In 1963, the head of the Finnish mission in South West Africa asked Väisälä if it would be possible to transfer her to the Oshigambo High School in Ovamboland, as the founder of that school, Toivo Tirronen was about to leave for Finland for a furlough.
[12] During 1963–1972, Väisälä worked at the Oshigambo High School in Ovamboland as its teacher of mathematics and natural sciences.
[5] The Minor Planet Center credits Väisälä with the discovery of the asteroids 1718 Namibia and 2437 Amnestia, both discovered at Turku Observatory on 14 September 1942.