(Lähde: MIL 100 vuotta 1990, Maanmittausinsinöörien Liitto, Jyväskylä, 1990)
Uki Helava was born on March 1, 1923 in Kokemäki, Finland. He studied in the Surveying Department at the Helsinki University of Technology from 1942 to 1947. Part of this time he spent defending his country in the Second World War.
After receiving his M.Sc. in Surveying in 1947, Uki Helava served his first years in the field of photogrammetry with the Finnish Defense Forces under the leadership of Dr. K. G. Löfström. Later he moved to the National Board of Survey, where he concentrated mainly on the preparation of aerial maps to be used in the basic mapping in Finland.
His creative talents especially in the design and construction of new instrument were soon acknowledged. E.g. Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, began to manufacture an instrument based on his idea in the early fifties.
In 1954 Uki Helava had an opportunity to work for a year as a research fellow in the National Research Council of Canada. He moved to Canada with his wife Inkeri and their three children. They stayed there until 1965. In the following year he was consultant to Ottico Meccanica Italiana, Rome. Then he worked with the Bendix Corporation as a consulting scientist for the years 1967 - 1979. Finally, he founded the Helava Associates Inc. where he was first president and later chairman of its Council.
Already during the first years in Ottawa Uki Helava developed the concepts of the Analytical Plotter and wrote the initial patent application in 1956.
His activities have resulted in several generations of analytical plotters that are of the highest quality in their own field with regard to working capacity and versatility.
Uki Helava also had an inventor's role in the development of instruments for digital photogrammetry.
Together with General Dynamics his company produced the first complete photogrammetric workstation.
Uki Helava was invited to give papers and keynote addresses in many congresses and symposia of ISPRS, and in other conventions.
His presentations as well as his participation in discussions were always highly appreciated.
Uki Helava's contributions to photogrammetry were widely acknowledged; he was honored with the ASP Photogrammetric Award, the ISP Brock Gold Medal, the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award, the Finnish Surveyor Honorary Medal and, the V Talbert Abrams Award.
Further, he was honorary member of the Finnish Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and he received an honorary doctorate at the Helsinki University of Technology and at the University of Hannover.
We are pleased that even during his international career Uki remembered his Finnish origin.
In him we lost our warmhearted friend whom many of us had known already since his student years.
The Finnish photogrammetric community has the best memories of Uki and wants to share the deep sorrow with his family.
Aino Savolainen
Einari Kilpelä
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