Linnaeus,
most famous of all naturalists, not only dubbed us Homo sapiens, but chose
the names for far more things than any other person in history,
classifying literally thousands of plants, animals, and minerals. Carl von
Linné – Carolus Linnaeus is the Latin form of his name – showed an early
love of flowers that earned him the nickname “the little botanist” when he
was only eight years old. The son of a Lutheran minister who cultivated
his interest in nature, he became an assistant professor of botany at
Uppsala University, then studied medicine in Holland, where in 1735 he
wrote his Systema Naturae. Linnaeus was only 28 at the time, and his
masterpiece was followed by Genera Plantarum in 1737 and Species Plantarum
16 years later. These books marked the beginning of taxonomy, a system of
scientific nomenclature that would be elaborated in more than 180 works.
The Linnaean system the naturalist developed divided the kingdom of
animals, vegetables, and minerals into classes, orders, genera, species,
and varieties, according to various characteristics. It adopted binominal
nomenclature, giving two Latin names – genus and species – to each
organism. In this two-name system all closely related species bear the
same genus name, e.g. Panthera (Latin for “cat”) leo is the lion, and
Panthera tigris is the tiger. The system Linnaeus invented provided
scientists with an exact tool for the identification of organisms and is
standard today, although many old popular names for plants and animals
linger on. Further it recognized all organisms as part of a grand scheme,
a unique concept at the time. Linnaeus continued to practice medicine and
headed the botany departments of Uppsala, naming thousands of plants that
he collected and classifying hundreds more than professional and amateur
botanists sent him from all over the world. He named some plants for their
characteristics alone, some for prominent people and others for their
discoverers, but in almost every case the designation he applied remains
intact. Linnaeus was 71 when he died at Uppsala in the cathedral in which
he is buried. His garden at the university, where he grew many of his
plants, is still visited by pilgrims from all over the world.