Frans Viktor Heikel (23 August 1842 – 27 July 1927) was a Finland-Swedishgymnastics teacher, known as "the father of Finnish school gymnastics".[1][2]
Life
Heikel was born in Turku to educator and priest Henrik Heikel and Wilhelmina Johanna Schauman. He had ten siblings,[3] including brother Felix Heikel (1844–1921), a bank manager and politician[4] and sister Anna Heikel, head of the School for the Deaf.[3] In 1873 Heikel married Hanna Kihlman. He was father to doctor Allan Phayllos Heikel (born 1885)[5][6] and ethnologistYngvar Heikel (born 1889).[7] He was also cousin to ethnographer Axel Heikel and philologist Ivar Heikel.
Between 1867 and 1869 Heikel studied gymnastics in Stockholm and Germany.[8] In 1869 he became a teacher of gymnastics at the Svenska normallyceum i Helsingfors (Swedish Normal School in Helsinki), and in 1873 a lecturer in gymnastics at the Nykarleby Seminary. From 1876 to 1911 he was senior lecturer in gymnastics at the University of Helsinki. He was awarded the title of professor in 1907 and was promoted to honorary doctor of medicine in 1919.[3] Heikel helped found and taught at the Nya svenska samskolan, a private co-educational school in Helsinki, in 1888.[9]
He developed a system based on Swedish and German gymnastics that reformed Finnish gymnastics. He was also interested in swimming, rowing and athletics. He was opposed to modern sports with its specialization, competitiveness and pursuit of records, while Artur Eklund, in a polemic with Heikel, expressed himself pejoratively about gymnastics.[10]
Terveysneuvoja varttuneemmalle nuorisolle. Helsinki 1902.
Japanilainen voimistelu. Helsinki 1905.
Voimistelun vapaa- ja sauvaliikkeitä kouluja, koteja ja yhdistyksiä varten tauluihin järjestänyt Viktor Heikel. The second Swedish edition was translated by K. E. Levälahti with the author's permission. Karisto 1909, 2nd revised edition 1912.
Voimistelun teoria. From the second revised and expanded edition by Uuno Suomela. WSOY 1916.
