Elmar Leppik
Elmar Emil Leppik was an Estonian mycologist. He established a mycological herbarium and library at the University of Tartu.
Leppik, the son of a farmer, was born in Jõgeva Parish, a rural municipality of Estonia north of Tartu. His birth date in 1878 has been given variously as 4 October or as 3 December. During his student years, he was interested in both mycology and algology. Following graduation, Leppik was a fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation and later the University of Tartu. Among his instructors were the prominent mycologists Eduard Fischer and Ernst Albert Gäumann. He earned his PhD in 1928 in Zürich before returning to Estonia to work at University of Tartu. There, he was employed first as Acting Assistant Professor, then Assistant Professor, Professor Extraordinary, and finally Professor.
