Carl Linnaeus

Swedish botanist who established the binomial nomenclature for living things.

Life

Son of a clergyman

Linnaeus came from a pastor's family in southern Sweden. He studied medicine and botany at Uppsala University and made an expedition to Lapland.

Systema Naturae

In 1735 he published Systema Naturae, proposing a classification system of kingdom, class, order, genus and species; in 1753 he published Species Plantarum, systematically using "binomial nomenclature"—naming each species with two Latin words, the genus name plus the species name—a method still in use today.

Binomial nomenclature

He was a professor at Uppsala University and sent students around the world to collect specimens; one of them reached Guangzhou in China. He died in 1778.

Legacy

Linnaeus is called the "father of modern taxonomy"; the scientific name of every species today follows his method.

Major works & achievements

• Systema Naturae
• Species Plantarum

Did you know? The scientific name of our species, Homo sapiens, was coined by Linnaeus.

Key dates

• 1732Explores Lapland
• 1735Publishes Systema Naturae
• 1741Professor at Uppsala University
• 1753Publishes Species Plantarum
• 1778Died