Finnish entomologist and botanist. Born in Eura, Carl Reinhold Sahlberg studied at the Finnish university in Åbo (at that time the country's capital, but now known as Turku) under C.N. Hellenius. Interested in botany in his early years, he later turned his attention exclusively to entomology. After gaining a magister's degree in 1802 he was appointed lecturer of natural history at the university. Sahlberg also gained a medical licence in 1810 and by 1818 he had succeeded Hellenius as professor of natural history and economy. Here he did a great deal to improve the collections and the university's museum of natural history, even arranging for students to be sent to different parts of Finland in search of native specimens.

In 1821 Sahlberg was responsible for founding the country's first scientific society, the Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica, and he was its first president. Unfortunately, in 1828, the city suffered at the hands of a great fire and the museum lost its entire library and natural history collection. Authorities decided to rebuild the university in the new capital, Helsinki, and it was called the Imperial Alexander University of Finland.

Sahlberg was named professor of botany and zoology when the university reopened in 1829, but he did not publish any botanical works after 1817. He was however, a keen horticulturalist, maintaining an impressive fruit collection in the grounds of his estate in south-west Finland. Sahlberg subsequently took great interest in the creation of the botanical garden and institute which was created on the edge of the city. Unfortunately, his ideas were largely ignored by the authorities and the garden was much smaller than he would have liked. Even in his chosen field, entomology, he did not publish widely, but instead dedicated himself to one masterpiece, his Insecta Fennica published between 1817 and 1839. He retired from the university in 1814.
Sources:
J.L. Capinera, 2008, Encyclopedia of Entomology: 3229
R. Colander, 1965, The History of Botany in Finland.