Everything about Carl Von Linn totally explained
Carl Linnaeus (Carl Linné, Latinised as
Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his
ennoblement as,
May 23 new style (13 May old style),
1707 who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of
Binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern
taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern
ecology (see
History of ecology).
Linnaeus was born in the countryside of
Småland, in southern Sweden. His father was the first in his ancestry to adopt a permanent last name; prior to that, ancestors had used the
patronymic naming system of Scandinavian countries. His father adopted the Latin-form name Linnaeus after a giant linden tree on the family homestead. Linnaeus got most of his higher education at
Uppsala University and began giving lectures of
botany there in 1730. He lived abroad between 1735–1738 where he studied and also published a first edition of his
Systema Naturae in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden where he became professor of botany at
Uppsala. In the 1740s he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals. In the 1750s and 60s he continued to collect and classify animals, plants and mineralia; publishing several volumes. At the time of his death, he was widely renowned throughout Europe as one of the most acclaimed scientists of the time.
The French philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau sent him the message: "Tell him I know no greater man on earth." The German writer
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote: "With the exception of
Shakespeare and
Spinoza, I know no one among the no longer living who has influenced me more strongly." Swedish author
August Strindberg wrote: "Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist".
The author abbreviation used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for species names is simply
L.
Name
The name of this scientist comes in different variants: 'Carl Linnaeus', 'Carolus Linnaeus' and 'Carl von Linné', sometimes just 'Carl Linné'. There is often confusion about his real Swedish name, as opposed to the Latinized form 'Carolus Linnaeus' he used most when he published his scientific works in Latin.
In Linnaeus' time, most Swedes had no surnames. Linnaeus' grandfather was named Ingemar Bengtsson (son of Bengt), following the long-standing Scandinavian tradition of sons' bearing, as surnames, their fathers' given names with
-son appended; Linnaeus' father was known as Nils Ingemarsson (son of Ingemar). Only for registration purposes, for example when matriculating at a university, one needed a surname. In the academic world, Latin was the language of choice, so when Linnaeus' father went to the
University of Lund, he coined himself a Latin surname: Linnaeus, referring to a large
linden (lime) tree, the
warden tree of the family property Linnagård (
linn being an
archaic form of Swedish
lind, the linden). Nils Ingemarsson Linnaeus gave his son the name Carl. So the Swedish name of the boy was Carl Linnaeus.
When Carl Linnaeus enrolled in private school as student at the University of Lund, he was registered as 'Carolus Linnaeus'. This Latinized form was the name he used when he published his works in Latin. After he was ennobled, in 1761, he took the name Carl von Linné. 'Linné' is thus a shortened version of 'Linnaeus', 'von' is added to signify his ennoblement.
When referring to or citing the author Linnaeus, it's appropriate to use 'Carl Linnaeus', 'Carolus Linnaeus' or just 'Linnaeus'. 'Carl von Linné' seems to be less suitable, especially for the works he published before 1762. On the title page of the second edition of
Species plantarum (1762) the author's name is still printed as 'Carolus Linnaeus' (or rather the
genitive form 'Caroli Linnaei') but from then on, his name is quite consistently printed as 'Carolus
a Linne' or 'Carl von Linné'. Stafleu
His time in Uppsala was financially rough, until he became acquainted with the renowned scientist
Olof Celsius, uncle of astronomer
Anders Celsius, who came up with the temperature scale that was given his name. Celsius, impressed with Linnaeus's knowledge and botanical collections, offered him board and lodging.
During this period, he came upon a work which ultimately led to the establishment of his artificial system of plant classification. This was a review of
Sébastien Vaillant's
Sermo de Structura Florum (Leiden, 1718), a thin quarto in French and Latin. Through this, he became convinced of the importance of the
stamens and
pistils, about which he wrote a short treatise on the sexes of plants in 1729. This caught the attention of
Olof Rudbeck the Younger (1660-1740), the professor of botany in the university, who subsequently appointed Linnaeus his
adjunct. In 1730, Linnaeus began giving lectures in the faculty.
In 1732 the Academy of Sciences at
Uppsala financed Linnaeus on an expedition to
Lappland in northernmost Sweden, then virtually unknown. The result of this was first
The Florula Lapponica (the first work to use the Sexual System) and later the
Flora Lapponica published in 1737. His journey to sub-Arctic Lapland is notable for exotic and adventurous episodes.
Travel and research
In 1735 Linnaeus moved to the
Netherlands, where he was to spend the next three years. Here he earned his only academic degree, at the
University of Harderwijk, in 6 days. This degree in Medicine consisted of a three day printing job of his botanical notes in Latin. He met with
Albertus Seba, a drugist, and the botanist
Jan Frederik Gronovius and showed him a draft of his work on taxonomy, the
Systema Naturae. This was published in the Netherlands the same year, as an eleven page work. Linnaeus stayed in the Netherlands for 12 months, until he made a journey to London in 1736, where he visited
Oxford University and met several highly regarded people, such as the physicist
Hans Sloane, the botanist
Philip Miller and the professor of botany J. J. Dillenius. The journey lasted a few months, after which he returned to Amsterdam, and continued the printing of his
Genera Plantarum, the starting point of his taxonomy.
In 1737 Linnaeus spent a year studying and working on the
Heemstede garden of
George Clifford, a wealthy Amsterdam banker introduced to him by
Herman Boerhaave. Clifford had many business connections with Dutch merchants and collected plants from around the world. His garden was famous. Linnaeus published the description of Clifford's garden as
Hortus Cliffortianus. In 1738, the work was done, and he started his journey back home. On his way he stayed in
Leiden for a year, during which he'd his
Classes Plantarum printed; then travelling to
Paris, before setting sail for
Stockholm.
Back in Sweden
Returning to Sweden in 1738, he practiced medicine (specializing in the treatment of syphilis) and lectured in Stockholm before being awarded a professorship at Uppsala in 1741. At Uppsala, in the University's botanical garden, he arranged the plants according to his system of classification; he then made three more expeditions to various parts of Sweden and inspired a generation of students. Linnaeus continued to revise his
Systema Naturae, which grew from a slim pamphlet into a multivolume work, as his ideas were changing and more and more plant and animal specimens were sent to him from every corner of the globe. His pride in his work was very much evident; he thought of himself as a second Adam. He liked to say '
Deus creavit, Linnaeus disposuit, ' Latin for, "God created, Linnaeus organized". This self-perception was further shown by the artwork on the cover of his
Systema Naturae, which depicts a man giving Linnaean names to new creatures as they're created in the Garden of Eden.
Arriving in Stockholm, he settled as a
physician. In September 1739 Linnaeus married Sara Elisabeth Morea (Moræaus) and the marriage took place at her family farm Sveden outside Falun; Sara he'd met on one of his first scientific journeys to the county of Dalarna already five years earlier 1734. In 1739 he was one of the founders of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Kungliga vetenskapsakademin). In 1741 he ascended to the chair of medicine at Uppsala and moved there. The position was soon exchanged for the chair of botany.
In 1743-44, Linnaeus designed today's thermometer scale by reversing that invented by
Anders Celsius (1701-1744)--originally 100 was the melting point of ice and 0 water’s boiling point
(External Link
).
Throughout the 1740s he conducted numerous field trips to many locations in Sweden to classify plants and animals: in 1741 to the
Stora Alvaret on
Öland and also to
Gotland; in 1746 to
Västergötland; and in 1749 to
Scania including visits to the
Kullaberg. The reports of each travel were published in the Swedish language to be accessible for the general public. Apart from containing many important reports of common life of that time, they've in recent years been appreciated for their fine treatment of the Swedish language, indeed putting Linnaeus as one of the foremost Swedish writers of the 18th century.
When not on travels, Linnaeus worked on his classifications, extending them to the kingdom of animals and the kingdom of minerals. The last may seem somewhat odd, but the theory of
evolution was still a long time away. Linnaeus was only attempting a convenient way of categorizing the elements of the natural world.
The Swedish king,
Adolf Fredrik, ennobled Linnaeus in 1757, and after the privy council finally had confirmed the ennoblement (in 1761 after a few years of discussions) Linnaeus took the surname
von Linné, later often signing just
Carl Linné.
In some portraits of Linnaeus, including three with this article, he's shown bearing a sprig of
Twinflower, one of his favorite plants, afterwards named in his honor,
Linnaea borealis. It is the only
species in its
genus, and, as it's
circumboreal, it can be encountered in cool northern regions of both the
Old World and the
New.
Last years
After his ennoblement, he continued teaching and writing. His reputation had spread over the world, and he corresponded with many different people. For example,
Catherine II of Russia sent him seeds from her country. He also corresponded with
Joannes A. Scopoli, "the Linnaeus of the Austrian Empire", who was a doctor and a botanist in
Idrija,
Duchy of Carniola (nowadays
Slovenia). Scopoli communicated all of his research, findings, and descriptions (for example,
olm and
dormouse, two little animals which were not known to Linnaeus) to him for several years, but because of the great distance they were never able to meet. Linnaeus named for him the solanaceous genus
Scopolia from which
scopolamine is derived.
Of Linnaeus' children, five reached adult age: four girls and one boy. Only the boy,
Carolus Linnaeus the Younger, was allowed to study. He didn't have the same passion as his father, but managed to make a reputation in botany. At the father's death, the son succeeded him as professor; however, he died only five years later. The son is commonly referred to as
filius (abbreviated "L. f.") to distinguish him from his famous father.
Linnaeus' last years were troubled by weak health, and he suffered from
gout and tooth aches. A
stroke in 1774 greatly weakened him, and two years later he suffered another, losing the use of his right side. He died in January 1778 in Uppsala, during a ceremony in
Uppsala Cathedral. He was buried in the cathedral.
Linnaean taxonomy
Linnaeus's prime contribution to taxonomy was to establish conventions for the naming of living organisms that became universally accepted in the scientific world--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 Linnaean system classified nature within a
hierarchy, starting with three
kingdoms. Kingdoms were divided into Classes and they, in turn, into Orders, which were divided into Genera (singular: genus), which were divided into Species (singular: species). Below the rank of species he sometimes recognized taxa of a lower (unnamed) rank (for plants these are now called "varieties").
His groupings were based upon shared physical characteristics. Only his groupings for animals remain to this day, and the groupings themselves have been significantly changed since Linnaeus' conception, as have the principles behind them. Nevertheless, Linnaeus is credited with establishing the idea of a hierarchical structure of classification which is based upon observable characteristics. While the underlying details concerning what are considered to be scientifically valid 'observable characteristics' has changed with expanding knowledge (for example,
DNA sequencing, unavailable in Linnaeus' time, has proven to be a tool of considerable utility for classifying living organisms and establishing their relationships to each other), the fundamental principle remains sound.
Linnaeus is regarded by some contemporary humanities scholars as "The Father of
Scientific racism". The charge is that, through his works he bound observable differences in 'race' with uncorroborated discriminatory stereotypes that precisely elevated the European 'race' above the "darker" races. It also made divisions that were biologically and taxonomically unsound, leading (some speculate) to the institution of scientific racism, which persists today.
Mankind
Linnaeus presented a concept of '
race' as applied to humans, also including mythological creatures. Within
Homo sapiens he proposed five taxa of a lower (unnamed) rank. These categories were
Africanus,
Americanus,
Asiaticus,
Europeanus, and
Monstrosus. They were based on place of origin at first, and later on skin colour. Each race had certain characteristics that he considered endemic to individuals belonging to it. Native Americans were
choleric, red, straightforward, eager and combative. Africans were
phlegmatic, black, slow, relaxed and negligent. Asians were
melancholic, yellow, inflexible, severe and avaricious. Europeans were
sanguine and pale, muscular, swift, clever and inventive. The "monstrous" humans included such entities as the "agile and fainthearted"
dwarf of the Alps, the
Patagonian giant, and the
monorchid Hottentot.
In addition, in
Amoenitates academicae (1763), he defined
Homo anthropomorpha as a catch-all term for a variety of human-like mythological creatures, including the
troglodyte,
satyr,
hydra, and
phoenix. He claimed that these creatures not only actually existed but were in reality inaccurate descriptions of real-world ape-like creatures.
He also, in
Systema Naturæ, defined
Homo ferus as "four-footed, mute, hairy". Included in this classification were
Juvenis lupinus hessensis (
wolf boys), who he thought were raised by animals,
Juvenis hannoveranus (
Peter of Hanover) and
Puella campanica (
Wild-girl of Champagne).
Linnaeus' scientifical research took science on a path that diverged from what had been taught by religious authorities. The Lutheran
Archbishop of Uppsala had accused him of "impiety." In
a letter to
Johann Georg Gmelin dated
February 25,
1747, Linnaeus wrote:
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Non placet, quod Hominem inter ant[h]ropomorpha collocaverim, sed homo noscit se ipsum. Removeamus vocabula. Mihi perinde erit, quo nomine utamur. Sed quaero a Te et Toto orbe differentiam genericam inter hominem et Simiam, quae ex principiis Historiae naturalis. Ego certissime nullam novi. Utinam aliquis mihi unicam diceret! Si vocassem hominem simiam vel vice versa omnes in me conjecissem theologos. Debuissem forte ex lege artis.
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English Translation
It doesn't please (you) that I've placed humans among the Anthropomorpha, but man is getting to know himself. Let's not quibble over words. It will be the same to me whatever name is applied. But I seek from you and from the whole world a generic difference between men and simians from the principles of Natural History. I certainly know of none. If only someone might tell me a single one! If I'd have called man a simian or vice versa I'd have brought together all the theologians against me. Perhaps I ought to have, in accordance with the law of the discipline [ofNatural History].
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Bibliography
Systema Naturae
The first edition of
Systema Naturae was printed in the Netherlands in 1735. It was an eleven page work. By the time it reached its 10th edition (1758), it classified 4,400 species of animals and 7,700 species of plants. In it, the unwieldy names mostly used at the time, such as "
Physalis annua ramosissima, ramis angulosis glabris, foliis dentato-serratis", were supplemented with concise and now familiar "binomials", composed of the generic name, followed by a specific epithet - in the case given,
Physalis angulata. These binomials could serve as a label to refer to the species. Higher taxa were constructed and arranged in a simple and orderly manner. Although the system, now known as
binomial nomenclature, was developed by the Bauhin brothers (see
Gaspard Bauhin and
Johann Bauhin) almost 200 years earlier, Linnaeus was the first to use it consistently throughout the work, also in monospecific genera, and may be said to have popularized it within the scientific community.
Linnaeus named taxa in ways that personally struck him as common-sensical; for example, human beings are
Homo sapiens (see
sapience). He also briefly described a
second human species,
Homo troglodytes ("cave-dwelling man"). This was however likely a confusion originating from exaggerated second- or third-hand accounts of the
chimpanzee (currently most often placed in a different genus, as
Pan troglodytes). The group "
mammalia" are named for their mammary glands because one of the defining characteristics of mammals is that they nurse their young.
Species Plantarum
Species Plantarum (or, more fully,
Species Plantarum, exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas) was first published in 1753, as a two-volume work. Its prime importance is perhaps that it's the primary starting point of
plant nomenclature as it exists today.
In 1754 Linnaeus divided the plant Kingdom into 25 classes. One,
Cryptogamia, included all the plants with concealed reproductive parts (algae, fungi, mosses and liverworts and ferns).
Genera Plantarum
Genera plantarum: eorumque characteres naturales secundum numerum, figuram, situm, et proportionem omnium fructificationis partium was first published in 1737, delineating plant genera. It reached its sixth edition by 1764.
Systema Plantarum
Systema Plantarum was a work published in 1779 that integrated the botanical aspects of
Systema Naturae with
Species Plantarum (and, defacto,
Genera Plantarum) to make a complete work. This work actually presented the fourth edition of
Species Plantarum.
Students
Carolus imbued his students with his own thoroughness in an atmosphere of enthusiasm, trained them to close and accurate observation, and then sent them to various parts of the globe. Some of the notable students and expeditions include
Pehr Kalm's visit to North America 1748–1751;
Daniel Solander, traveling first with
James Cook's expedition to the Pacific in 1768, then in 1771 to
Iceland, the
Faroes and
Orkney;
Fredric Hasselquist, who visited
Palestine and parts of
Asia Minor; and
Carl Peter Thunberg, journeying to
Japan,
South Africa,
Java, and
Sri Lanka.
Honors
In honor of Carl von Linné, the Swedish 100
kronor bill has an illustration of him.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Carl Von Linn'.
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