Paavo Suomalainen

He served as a professor of animal physiology at the department of zoology in the University of Helsinki and established a major project with his students to study the physiology and biochemistry of hibernation in the European hedgehog.

Suomalainen was born in Helsinki to university chancellor Kustaa Vihtori and Aleksandra (Sanni) Vilhelmiina Lähde.

He became interested in biology at an early age thanks to his teacher Emil Kivirikko at the Finnish Normal Lyceum.

He studied temperature regulation, and physiology, teaching and influencing a number of students.

He also took an interest in photography, nature and birds and published a book along with his brother, the genetics professor Esko Suomalainen on the Suomen erämaiden käustä (The beauty of the Finnish wastelands) in 1938 and another book on nature in 1952.