Obituary
2001; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 146; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1007/s007050170135
ISSN1432-8798
AutoresFrederick A. Murphy, Charles H. Calisher, Brian W. J. Mahy, Pertti Arstila,
Resumoafter a long illness that he bore with the same kind of courage that characterized his whole life.He used to say that Finns are tougher than Vikings; at least in his case it is true.It is as if Sibelius wrote "Finlandia" as the ultimate expression of the Finnish spirit with Pekka in mind.The effect this music has on the listener in the setting of the Finnish landscape reminds us of Pekka's indomitable spirit.But Pekka was not only tough and determined, he was warm, generous and caring as a friend and colleague to so many of the world's virologists.Indeed, since the timeline of Pekka's professional life paralleled the rise of international virology, he was a personal force in the lives of many of the founders of the independent discipline of virology, especially medical virology.He was there at the beginning, as a member of the host committee of the First International Congress for Virology, held in Helsinki in 1968, and he played many important roles in the international community of virologists in succeeding years.We and many others are greatly saddened by the loss of a good friend and colleague.Science has lost an enthusiastic, visionary scientist; we have lost a pillar of our professional lives.Pekka was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1927.As befitted his bold nature, he volunteered to serve with an anti-aircraft battalion during the Second World War.He told of one particular episode from this time: while on duty in Helsinki the alarm sounded, but the other men assigned to the anti-aircraft gun were not to be found.So, he had to fire the gun himself, without anyone to help with the aiming coordinates.He missed the enemy airplane and the shells came down on a nearby island.The island was used to store naval mines, but he missed them as
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