In the s, Linneaus undertook expeditions to Lapland and central Sweden, before finishing his medical degree at the University of Harderwijk in the Netherlands. While enrolled at the University of Leiden he published his famous Systema Naturae — a new way of classifying living organisms. Over the years, Linnaeus revised this classification system, which soon became a huge, multivolume work. It grouped all species into higher categories, known as taxa: genera, orders, classes and kingdoms.
Central to this system was binomial nomenclature — the idea that all organisms should be described by only two Latin words: one denoting its genus, and another its species. Two-word Latin names had been used before, but Linnaeus was the first to apply this approach extensively and consistently, and it soon caught on as the standard naming system for animals and plants. Linnaeus used his system to name over 12, species of plants and animals, although some have subsequently been renamed.
Carl Linnaeus is most famous for creating a system of naming plants and animals—a system we still use today. This system is known as the binomial system , whereby each species of plant and animal is given a genus name followed by a specific name species , with both names being in Latin. Linnaeus' most famous scientific name is probably the name he gave humans, Homo sapiens.
Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and closely-related species like Homo neanderthalensis Neanderthals. Linnaeus did two things that changed our understanding of humans:.
Linnaeus named over 12, species of plants and animals, although some have had to be renamed because we know more about them now. He had a hyper-organized mind and he was an obsessive list-maker, so I think that helped him 'clear the desktop of science' by bringing order to taxonomy.
At its most basic level, the Linnaean system assigns each unique species of organism two names, hence the identification of the system as a binomial two-named classification.
Although similar two-named systems had been used in the past, Beil said, they had never been used in any systematic manner, nor had they been used consistently. Linnaeus combined two terms, genus and species, and used this combination to identify each particular organism.
The species designation, a term he borrowed from the English naturalist and parson John Ray, indicates the most basic unit of classification, traditionally defined as organisms capable of interbreeding.
The genus designation gens is Latin for "tribe" ranks above species and designates the larger group of related organisms. For example, a coyote Canis latrans is a different species from a wolf Canis lupus , but both belong to the same genus, Canis.
This genus, in turn, could then be related to the higher-order ranks, such as order Carnivora , class Mammalia and so on, all the way up to the highest rank, the kingdom ranking Animalia.
Related: The 10 weirdest medical cases in the animal kingdom. Linnaeus continued to revise Systema Naturae throughout his lifetime. It eventually grew from 11 pages in the first edition to more than 2, pages, Beil said, as new species were added over time. Linnaeus also made several changes, such as changing the classification of whales from fishes to mammals in the 10th edition, which was published in In all, Linnaeus classified some 7, plants and 4, animals during his lifetime, Beil said.
Today, Systema Naturae is recognized as one of Western Civilization's most important scientific works. Although Linnaeus was ignorant of Darwinian evolution and modern genetic concepts, and, in fact, the modern binomial system differs from Linnaeus' system in many important respects, the principles laid down in Systema Naturae are the basis for modern taxonomy.
Linnaeus spent many years teaching at Uppsala University where he was a popular lecturer and enjoyed considerable status as an important man of science and an authority on botany.
He corresponded with many prominent scientists and continued to work and write, producing several more influential works, including "Philosophia Botanica" and "Species Plantarum," the latter considered by many to be the most important early treatise on botanical nomenclature. He was especially famous for his field trips, Beil said, which were basically botanical excursions during which he took students out into the countryside to collect plants.
Several of his most promising students, facetiously called the "apostles," went on to successful botanical and natural history careers, many of whom carried out famous zoological or botanical expeditions.
Eventually Linnaeus bought a large estate in Hammarby, just outside Uppsala. There he built a museum to house his extensive natural history collections, which had grown throughout his life as scientists from all over the world sent him specimens. The estate also contained a garden in which he cultivated both native and exotic plants. For his numerous accomplishments he was made a nobleman by the King of Sweden in After many years of teaching at Uppsala University, Linnaeus retired in and lived on his estate until his death in His natural history collections and manuscripts are currently held by the Linnean Society in London, an international society for the study of natural history.
Tom Garlinghouse is a journalist specializing in general science stories.
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