This afternoon, SCAS welcomed visitors from the Embassy of Japan in Sweden. Mr. Hideaki Mizukoshi, Japanese Ambassador to Sweden, Ms. Mayuka Ishida, First Secretary, Dr. Yusuke Mori, First Secretary, and Ms. Satsuki Shinohara, Researcher, visited the Collegium to learn more about Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg, the successor of Linnaeus, who travelled to Japan in the late 1700s and later published Flora Japonica (1784).

During many years, Thunberg resided in Linneanum - the current home of SCAS - and his connection to the premises is still very much present as two important halls of the Collegium - the Thunberg Lecture Hall and the Thunberg Dining Room - bear his name.

SCAS Principal Christina Garsten introduced the Collegium and its activities, and Professor Marie-Christine Skuncke, Uppsala University, gave a brief presentation on Thunberg’s travels to Japan. Skuncke’s book, Carl Peter Thunberg, Botanist and Physician: Career-Building across the Oceans in the Eighteenth Century (2014) was written while she was a Fellow-in-residence at SCAS.

The group was hosted by Professor Dan Larhammar, Uppsala University.