Physics in Finland

One of the more difficult tasks a former Fulbright grantee can undertake is to convey to his professional colleagues in a meaningful way the most important aspects of his year abroad. Having been the first physicist in Finland under the Fulbright Program only underlines this responsibility, but having been in Finland for only a year (August 1956 to August 1957) tends to put one in the position of being a pseudoexpert. The proximity of Finland to Russia would make it very easy to fall in line with current journalistic trends in the United States and to pick a title such as “Physics in the Shadow of the Iron Curtain”. If the spirit of such a title were to permeate an entire article, it would lead to a rather gross distortion of what is presently occurring in physics in Finland although there has been a certain amount of intellectual isolation resulting from Finland’s geographical position