Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778): Classifying Nature
The Young Linnaeus
Linnaeus was born in 1707 in southern Sweden. He was intended to follow in his father's footsteps as a clergyman but from a young age showed a keen interest in plants and flowers. A local physician, who realised there may be a potential future for Linnaeus in the field of botany, recommended he was sent to study at university. Linnaeus studied medicine which at the time was based on herbalism, and so could combine his passion for botany with his studies.
Linnaeus excelled at university and in 1730 was appointed Lecturer in Botany. It was during this period that he began to outline the theory of plant sexuality, which was later used to construct his system of plant classification.
Travel and Research
In 1735 Linnaeus travelled to Holland where he spent a few years working on plant classification and studying the regional natural history, as well as earning his medical doctorate. During his time in the Netherlands, Linneaus produced several publications of his research. He understood that the methods of classification in use at the time could not accommodate for the number of new plants being discovered. One of his most influential works, Systema naturae published in 1735, addressed this issue and outlined his new system for classifying the natural world.
Back in Sweden
In 1738 Linnaeus returned to Sweden to work as a doctor before being appointed a professor and chair of botany at the University of Uppsala, where he insisted on arranging the botanical gardens according to his system of classification. Over the years Linnaeus revised his Systema naturae, adding to the original 11-page pamphlet as more plant and animal species were discovered around the globe.
Throughout the 1740's Linnaeus travelled around Sweden, by Order of Parliament, to list all the natural resources of the country, but his main focus remained on the reform of botany. In 1753 he published Species plantarum which described some 6,000 plant species using his new classification system.
In his last years Linnaeus was troubled by weak health. He was forced to retire from teaching in 1774 after a stroke, and suffered another two years later. He died in January 1778 in Uppsala.
From Kingdom to Species
Linnaeus' system of classification has been a huge influence in science and the basis for the modern classification of nature. Before the Linnaean system was universally accepted, scientific names for species were already in Latin but were often too long. For example, the tomato was called Solanum caule inermi herbaceo, foliis pinnatis incises, racemes simplicibus. The Linnaean system allowed for clear and easy classifications based on shared physical characteristics.
His idea was to classify nature in a hierarchy, starting with three kingdoms; plants, animals and minerals. Kingdoms were divided into Classes and then into Orders, which were further divided into Genera and then Species. All known plants were given a simpler binomial (in two parts) Latin name, which consisted of the genus followed by the species. Using this system the tomato simply became Solanum lycopersicum. Between 1753 and his death, Linnaeus named thousands of plants and animals in this way.
Over time his binomial system was adopted as the standard way of naming organisms and is still in use today. However, significant group changes have been made as more species are identified, and an advance in DNA sequencing has established relationships between species not visible in physical characteristics.
