Alexandra Smirnoff

Alexandra Smirnoff (1838 to 1913) was a Finnish scientist, pomologist and writer, born in Vaasa, whose research had great influence on pomology in Finland and Sweden. She was the first Nordic female pomologist. From 1873 she studied pomology for about three years in Södermanland in Sweden under the pomologist Olof Eneroth, who put her in charge of classifying Russian fruits because she knew Russian, and her work helped bring many fruits from Russia into Finland. Her first publication, in 1882, compared 40 varieties of strawberry, and her Suomen pomologiian käsikirja, a handbook of Finnish pomology, was published in 1894 in both Swedish and Finnish. She received the silver medal of the Russian Domain Ministry, the state author's prize in 1910 for Care of the Flower Garden and a state annual pension in 1907.