Carl Linnaeus Presentation By: Victoria Popoola

Father of Taxonomy Born on May 23, 1701 in Southern Sweden Father was a gardener and pastor  Created the finest garden in the province of Småland. Two sisters and one brother He became a knight and a noble in 1762 when King Adolf Frederik entitled him Carl von Linné., receiving the German noble mark "von" since there was no mark of nobility in the Swedish language. In 1772 Linnaeus’s health failed. In 1773 Linnaeus weakened by a stroke. Died at 70, died on January 10, 1778; buried in the Cathedral at Uppsala on 22 January.

Personal Life Married Sara Elisabeth Moræaat Moræus' farm Sveden in Falun in June 26, In January 20, 1741, Linnaeus' and Sara Lisa's first child was born, their son Carl. In 1743 their second child was born, their daughter Elisabeth Christina 1744 Sara Magdalena, who died just 15 days old. Had four other children, Lovisa, Sara Christina, Johannes and Sophia. The son Johannes died before his third birthday.

Inspiration Father took him and his friends on picnics and told them about the names of plants.  He would forget the names and his dad told him that he would not teach him anymore.  Parents wanted him to be a priest as the rest of his siblings did…that didn’t work out. In his youth, Carl’s father would decorate his cot with flowers and give him a flower to play with whenever he was unhappy.

Religion His religious beliefs led him to natural theology, a school of thought dating back to Biblical times but especially flourishing around 1700:  since God has created the world, it is possible to understand God's wisdom by studying His creation.  As he wrote in the preface to a late edition of Systema Naturae: Creationis telluris est gloria Dei ex opere Naturae per Hominem solum -- The Earth's creation is the glory of God, as seen from the works of Nature by Man alone. The study of nature would reveal the Divine Order of God's creation, and it was the naturalist's task to construct a "natural classification" that would reveal this Order in the universe.

Educational Career In 1714 aged seven he was sent for schooling at Växjö, where he remained until  He did not prove an apt and brilliant pupil in a school intended mostly for would-be clergymen and state officials. Carl’s disinterest in priesthood disappointed his parents, but they were happy when Linnaeus entered the University of Lund in 1727 to study medicine. A year later, he transferred to the University of Uppsala.  most prestigious university in Sweden. However, its medical facilities had been neglected and had fallen into disrepair. Linnaeus went to the Netherlands in 1735, promptly finished his medical degree at the University of Harderwijk, and then enrolled in the University of Leiden for further studies.

Education contd. May 1728 Linnaeus became ill and after recovery returned to his family at Stenbrohult 1733 Linnaeus lectured on mineralogy at Uppsala; death of Christina Brodersonia 1734 Linnaeus lectured on dietetics at Uppsala; travelled through Dalarna (Dalecarlia); at Christmas met Sara Elisabet (Sara Lisa) Moraea ( ), daughter of town physician of Falun left Sweden in April 1735 in order to obtain a doctor’s degree at the accommodating but now extinct Dutch university of Harderwijk and to get his works published.

Professional Career Returning to Sweden in 1738, he practiced medicine (specializing in the treatment of syphilis) Lectured in Stockholm before being awarded a professorship at Uppsala in 1741 Was appointed professor of medicine and botany at the University of Uppsala; travelled through the Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland to survey their natural history, economic products, etc. In 1747 Linneaus was appointed by the king to Archiater as senior physician, which was a great mark of respect.

Career contd. Was the only Swede to become a member of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Linnaeus later became member of a great number of Academies  i. e. the ones in Russia and France and also the Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia. In 1749 Linnaeus was appointed as principal at the University of Uppsala.

Academic Accomplishments Before Linnaeus, species naming practices varied. Many biologists gave the species they described long, unwieldy Latin names, which could be altered at will Linnaeus is most widely known for having introduced efficient procedures for naming and classifying plants and animals at a time when new species were being rapidly discovered by explorers. Linnaeus realized that new plants were being discovered faster than their morphological relationships could be established.  He devised a simple numerical classification based upon the number of floral parts. This system was so useful that it remained popular into the 19th century.

Accomplishments contd. Linnaeus simplified naming immensely by designating one Latin name to indicate the genus, and one as a "shorthand" name for the species.  The two names make up the binomial ("two names") species name. For instance, in his two-volume work Species Plantarum (The Species of Plants), Linnaeus renamed the briar rose Rosa canina. This binomial system rapidly became the standard system for naming species. Observed over a number of years that certain plants constantly opened and closed their flowers at particular times of the day, these times varying from species to species. Hence one could deduce the approximate time of day according to which species had opened or closed their flowers. Arranged in sequence of flowering over the day they constituted a kind of floral clock or horologium florae.

Linnaeus’ Floral Clock

Life Accomplishments Despite being in hard financial straits, Linnaeus mounted a botanical and ethnographical expedition to Lapland in 1731 (the portrait above shows Linnaeus as a young man, wearing a version of the traditional Lapp costume and holding a shaman's drum). In 1734 he mounted another expedition to central Sweden. He restored the University's botanical garden (arranging the plants according to his system of classification) During his time in Uppsala Linnaeus began in 1742 a thorough reconstruction of the Botanical Garden. He built an orangery, gave the garden a new division and expanded it. He got seeds from friends all over Europe.

Life contd. Many medical plants and other species with economical value were grown in the Botanical Garden. To drink tea had become fashionable and all sorts of substitutes were tested to save the expense of the import. Linnaeus was convinced that it was possible to grow tea plants in Sweden. In 1762 he got a living tea plant from captain C.G. Ekeberg and succeeded in the summer 1765 to make it flower. During his days in Stockholm Linnaeus was one of the founders of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. The first meeting of the Academy was held in May The distribution of work was decided by drawing of lots and Linnaeus became the first Praeses of the Academy.

Scholarly Works 1735published the first edition of his classification of living things, the Systema Naturae. 1748Linnaeus published Hortus Upsaliensis; reached Tetradynamia in manuscript of Species plantarum, then compelled by other activities and the strain of overwork to put it aside for a year. 1749Linnaeus published Materia medica, Vol. 1, Amoenitates academicae and Vol. 1, Pan Suecicus, a thesis using binomial nomenclature for species tested as fodder for livestock; Louisa ( ), Linnaeus’s third daughter born (the second, Sara Magdalena, died in 1744, the year of her birth). 1752Manuscript of Species plantarum completed; Pehr Osbeck returned from China. 1753Linnaeus, aged 46, published Species plantarum, starting point of modern botanical nomenclature. 1754Linnaeus published the fifth edition of Genera plantarum. 1758Linnaeus made Knight of the Polar Star; published the first volume of the tenth edition of Systema naturae, the starting point of modern zoological nomenclature; Löfling’s Iter Hispanicum; purchased Hammarby.

Works contd. 1759Linnaeus published Systema naturae, 10th ed., Vol Linnaeus published the second volume of the second edition of Species plantarum; excused professorial duties on grounds of ill-health; 1764Linnaeus published the sixth edition of Genera plantarum; suffered from violent attack of pleurisy 1767Linnaeus published Mantissa plantarum as an appendix to the second volume of the twelfth edition of Systema naturae. 1768Linnaeus began to build a museum at Hammarby to house his collections; published the third volume of the twelfth edition of Systema naturae. 1751Linnaeus published Philosophia botanica; Pehr Kalm returned from America with exciting specimens; 1771Linnaeus published Mantissa altera plantarum; death of Adolf Fredrik; accession of Gustaf III. 1774Systema vegetabilium published under editorship of J. A. Murray.

Summary Developed a floral clock based on observations over a number of years. This floral clock was used to estimate the approximate time of day that flowers opened and closed. Linnaeus's main 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.

References museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/workers/CLinnaeus.htm museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/workers/CLinnaeus.htm /CarlLinnaeus/CarlLinnaeus.htm /CarlLinnaeus/CarlLinnaeus.htm