Alma Söderhjelm

Alma Söderhjelm (10 May 1870 in Vyborg – 16 March 1949 in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden

Academic career

After gaining an M.A. in history from the University of Helsinki in 1894 She was awarded a doctorate in 1900.

On the basis of this thesis, the university unanimously proposed to award her a lectureship. This appointment was delayed until 1906, because of political concern over her father, the procurator Werner Woldemar Söderhjelm

In 1927, she became chair and Extraordinary Professor of General History at Åbo Akademi University, and thus the first female professor in Finland, a role she held until 1938. The chair was made possible by the benefactor Ellen Dahlström, a commercial councillor's widow who funded its establishment. She co-wrote the screenplay for The Blizzard (1923), directed by Mauritz Stiller. She was awarded the Granberg Prize in 1919, 1928, 1932, 1935, and 1942.