Carolus Linnaeus

Wedding Portrait of Linnaeus (1739)

Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778). Swedish botanist, zoologist, and taxonomist. Early evolutionary theorist. Established conventions for naming living organisms that are still in general scientific use today -- in particular he popularized, the use of binomial nomenclature, which had first been by developed by the Bauhin brothers (Gaspard and Johann Bauhin) more than a century before. He was the first to use binomial names consistently.

In addition, with the aid of correspondents who sent him specimens from all corners of the globe, he greatly expanded the number of plants and animals recognized by science. These were all assigned a place in what was to become known as the Linnaean taxonomy, the system of scientific classification now in general use by biologists. For many of these he coined names that are still in general use, including the scientific name for human beings (Homo sapiens).

He first published his Systema Naturae (The System of Nature) in 1735. In it, he not only classified plants and animals within two kingdoms (Regnum animale and Regnum vegetabile), but also placed minerals in a third kingdom (Regnum lapideum). Within Regnum vegetabile, plants were grouped according the number of their stamens and pistils. The tenth edition of this book (1758), the one in which animals are first assigned binomial names, is considered the starting point of zoological nomenclature.

The first edition of Species Plantarum (The Species of Plants) was published in 1753. This work is the beginning of all of all botanical nomenclature. No plant names appearing in any earlier literature are now considered to be validly published. In it, the binomial nomenclature for plants is consistently used for the first time.

The groupings that he assigned to plants have largely been abandoned in modern classification, but the divisions into which he placed animals have held up rather better, although many changes have since been made. He was the first classifier to place humans together with other primates. This decision to place Homo sapiens with the apes led later naturalists to propose that humans had evolved from apes.

As a young man Linnaeus was a creationist, but he later developed an evolutionary theory of his own (read about his theory).

Work Cited:

Lönnberg, E. 1909. Carl von Linné und die Lehre von den Wirbeltieren. Jena: Gustav Fischer.

Additional Notes:

-He was also known as Carl Linnaeus, as Carl von Linnè (adopted after 1762, the year he was granted nobility in recognition of his scientific work), and as Carl Linné (the way he often signed his name late in life). Carolus Linnaeus is the latinized form that he used in academic publications. If his father had not attended college (at the University of Lund), then his name would have been Carl Nilsson (Carl, son of Nils) because his father's name was originally Nils Ingemarsson (Nils, son of Ingemar). At the time, this was the accepted naming convention among Swedes. However, when Nils registered at the University he had to register under a family name so he coined the name Linnaeus, which was later used also by his son Carl. Nils took the name Linnaeus from archaic Swedish linn, meaning linden tree. In Sweden an ancient tree on the family property would be singled out as the "warden tree," which in Norse tradition was a tree that exerted a protective power over the family home. In the case of their family, the warden tree was a linden. The family farm was known as Linnagård.

-The original Linnaean system of classification did not include two major categories now in common use (phylum and family), but included all of the others (i.e., class, order, genus, and species). It also lacked the subspecies category.

-Originally Anders Celsius had assigned the value 100 to the melting temperature of ice and 0 to the boiling point of water. Linnaeus reversed this, assigning 0 to the melting point and 100 to the boiling point. This created the Celsius temperature scale in its modern form.

-Linnè was one of the founders and the first President of the Royal Academy of Science in Stockholm.