Gunnar Landtman was born in 1878. He studied in both Germany and England, where he spent a total of around ten years.

Earned his doctorate in 1905 on the origins of clergy. Worked in the University of Cambridge. Was sent to Papua New Guinea to conduct research in 1910-1912. This assignment was a continuation of the anthropological research project of Cambridge.

Literary works include travel diaries and a book on Immanuel Kant. His main works are an English-language study on the kiwai people of Papua (1927) and a study on social inequality, The Origin of the Inequality of Social Classes (1938).

Worked in Helsinki as a docent in Sociology; became Professor of Sociology in 1927.

Active in society; supported humane, universal morals and opposed capital punishment. Was a member of Parliament of the Swedish People’s Party in 1922-1923.

Died in 1940.