Kalm (1716-1779) was the first to record a scientific measurement of the Niagara Falls.
When explorers during the age of the Enlightenment headed off to the unknown corners of the earth, the father of natural sciences, Carl Linnaeus, sent one of his 17 ‘apostles’, Finnish-born Pehr Kalm, off to North America. During the course of his dangerous travels through troubled regions, Kalm discovered hundreds of new varieties of plants. He wrote up his findings in a series of travel sketches and his description of the Niagara Falls was published in several papers. Kalm is also immortalized in the name of state flower of Pennsylvania and Connecticut, Kalmia latifolia.
The obverse of the Pehr Kalm and European Explorers commemorative coin features a beautiful mountain laurel. On the reverse side, the Niagara Falls are depicted.
The collector coin is part of the Europa Star programme, also known as European Silver Star programme, in which European countries release coins with a shared theme.
