Carl Linnaeus
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Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné, Carolus Linnaeus) (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy." He is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology. He was the most renowned botanist of his time. His prime contribution was to establish conventions for the naming of living organisms that became universally accepted in the scientific world (binomial names, scientific names): the work of Linnaeus represents the starting point of binomial nomenclature. In addition Linnaeus developed, during the great 18th century expansion of natural history knowledge, what became known as the Linnaean taxonomy; the system of scientific classification now widely used in the biological sciences. The task of identifying and describing all living species is called the Linnaean enterprise by modern ecologists.

Linnaeus is commemorated nowadays primarily as the great biological name giver of the eighteenth century; the abbreviation 'L.' for Linnaeus appended to about twelve thousand scientific names of plants and animals indicates the immensity of his achievements, for such names at their publication had to be associated with descriptive information derived from his study of specimens and earlier literature. He accomplished this massive task through his remarkable mental tenacity and stamina allied to a strong visual memory and a very methodical and practical systematising cast of mind never straying far from the concrete. This is evident not only in his taxonomic works but even more vìvidly in the journals of his travels, notably his Öländska och Gothländska resa Åhr 1741 (1745), translated into English as Linnaeus's Öland and Gotland journey 1741 written at the height of his powers, when 34 years old. It includes observations on the economy, products, buildings, natural history, antiquities, domestic furniture, customs, runic inscriptions and folk-lore of the Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland; it well exemplifies his wide-ranging curiosity. In its index Linnaeus first used binomial nomenclature for species.