President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö conferred the honorary title of Academician of Science on three scientists on Friday 3 February 2023.
Professor Heli Jantunen, Professor Emeritus Martti Koskenniemi and Research Professor Merja Penttilä received the honorary title at a conferment ceremony in Helsinki.
“A free and prosperous society is based on knowledge and truth. When we have reliable information at our disposal, we are less susceptible to disinformation and other, even malicious, attempts to influence us. Information is also a counterforce to ignorance and lies, it acts as a voice of reason,” the President said in his speech at the ceremony.
The President also noted that Finland is a science-friendly country and that the coronavirus pandemic has increased the confidence of Finns in science and researchers. “Achieving success takes work, and so does maintaining it. The fact that Finland has started to fall from the top ranks of education in the world is a very worrying phenomenon,” the president said.
“To stop global threats and challenges, we need cooperation across disciplines and borders,” President Niinistö added. “Through their research, academicians have not only moved our society forward, many of them have also risen above the usual climate of debate by acting as advocates for science and scientific knowledge. In academic circles, they are and have been role models for many students, researchers and teachers”
Professor Emerita Kaisa Häkkinen, who was granted the honorary title of Academician of Science in 2020, also attended the ceremony. In 2020, the conferment ceremony had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The honorary title of Academician of Science can be held by sixteen highly distinguished Finnish scientists and scholars at a time. The President of the Republic of Finland may confer the honorary title of Academician of Science on a proposal from the Board of the Academy of Finland.