Tatu Vanhanen

Tatu Vanhanen (b. 1929) is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. Vanhanen is a co-author of IQ and the Wealth of Nations (2002), IQ and Global Inequality (2006), and author of Ethnic Conflicts Explained by Ethnic Nepotism (1999) and many other works. His son, Matti Vanhanen, is the Prime Minister of Finland. In 2002-4 he found himself being investigated for incitement to racial hatred by the National Bureau of Investigations. An interview he had given with a magazine, in which he contended that Whites and Asians were more intelligent than Blacks for evolutionary reasons and should therefore be given many of the top political and financial positions in Africa, had apparently been the object of complaint by Finland’s Ombudsman for Minorities Mikko Puumalainen, who said he feared the former professor’s remarks would boost racism. "Whereas the average IQ of Finns is 97, in Africa it is between 60 and 70. Differences in intelligence are the most significant factor in explaining poverty," Vanhanen had said. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told journalists he did not intend to engage in a public debate with his father. Eventually, the police decided not to press charges.