Timo Juhani Koponen was born in Finland in 1939. He studied botany at the University of Helsinki, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1962 and his PhD in 1968. By that time, he was already Curator of Bryophytes at the Botanical Museum.
He travelled widely and carried out fieldwork in many parts of the world, including Europe, North America (Canada and the United States), Asia (notably Japan and China, between 1980 and 1999), and Australasia (Papua New Guinea and Australia). In 1990, together with his students, he organized the International Congress on East Asian Bryology in Helsinki.
In 1986, he was appointed Professor of Botany at the University of Helsinki. In 1992, he became Director of the Botanical Garden, a position he held until his retirement in 2002. He served as President of the IAB from 1993 to 1999. He published more than 300 articles, as well as several reviews and books, and remained active after his retirement.
Video of Timo Koponen’s Biography as Bryophyte collector
