Benjamin Mitro – a transnational chemist from Tampere

Authors

• Petri Paju suomi

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33355/tw.129679

Keywords:

transnationalism, internationality, biographical research, chemical technology, water services, Doctors of Science (Technology), urban history

Abstract

Benjamin Mitro, or Mitrofanoff until 1918, was one of the first Finnish Doctors of Science (Technology). In this article, I examine his transnational life story with a special focus on the borders he crossed and the diversity of his actions. In previous studies, Mitro is mainly known as an inspector and head of the local food control authority in Tampere, as well as for his participation in the Karelian Cultural Society (Karjalan sivistysseura). I have collected and verified information about him from several archives, searched for his publications and mapped his activities from newspapers and magazines digitised by the National Library of Finland. Mitrofanoff was born in Laihia in 1881, the son of a merchant father from White Sea Karelia and a Finnish mother. He studied chemistry first in Helsinki, Finland, and then in Germany. Mitrofanoff was one of the first Finns to graduate from the Technical University of Karlsruhe with a doctorate in engineering. In German, this is called a Doktoringenieur. In 1911 he was elected to the above-mentioned public office in Tampere. There he soon began a lively writing, research and teaching career, drawing inspiration both from abroad and from his local work. Mitro's career-oriented biography provides information about different communities and many areas of life in which an open-minded scientist was able to apply and develop knowledge from different countries. The most far-reaching of these areas was the water and food supply of the city of Tampere. Mitro was also an early student of electric batteries and worked extensively in practical chemistry. In the 1920s, Mitro promoted the establishment of an industrial museum in Tampere and continued his energetic publishing activities until his sudden death from illness at the end of 1924.