Linnaeus, Carolus (1707–1778)

Swedish naturalist and physician. His botanical work Systema naturae (1735) contained his system for classifying plants into groups depending on shared characteristics (such as the number of stamens in flowers), providing a much-needed framework for identification. He also devised the concise and precise system for naming plants and animals, using one Latin (or Latinized) word to represent the genus and a second to distinguish the species.

For example, in the Latin name of the daisy, Bellis perennis, Bellis is the name of the genus to which the plant belongs, and perennis distinguishes the species from others of the same genus. By tradition the generic name always begins with a capital letter. The author who first described a particular species is often indicated after the name, for example, Bellis perennis Linnaeus, showing that the author was Linnaeus.

Linnaeus was born in Småland and studied medicine at Lund and Uppsala and in the Netherlands at Harderwijk. As a lecturer in botany, he explored Lapland 1732 for the Uppsala Academy of Sciences. He practised as a physician and was appointed professor of medicine at Uppsala 1741, but changed this position 1742 for the chair of botany.

Linnaeus's system of nomenclature was introduced in Species plantarum 1753 and the fifth edition of Genera plantarum 1754 (first edition 1737). In 1758 he applied his binomial system to animal classification.