Four points on Lennart von Post and the invention of "Pollen Statistics"

This essay is a contribution to the historiography of Lennart von Post and the early development of quantitative pollen analysis. Based on von Post's own publications and source material from the archives of Stockholm University College, where he was appointed professor in 1929, the essay offers four points on von Post's scientific identity and the collective work through which quantitative pollen analysis, or "pollen statistics", came into being. The four points are, first, that von Post made his career as a geologist; second, that he framed pollen analysis as a means to tackle Quaternary geological issues; third, that his work benefitted from collective work, both in the field and in the laboratory; and fourth, that quantitative pollen analysis was not accepted without criticism, taking some years to break through beyond the Geological Survey, where von Post worked before he became professor.