Linnaean classification

Linnaean classification Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778), the most famous of all naturalists, was born Carl von Linné, but subsequently adopted the Latin form of his Swedish name. The son of a clergyman, Linnaeus became an avid botanist at a very early age; his nickname was “the little botanist.” He studied at Lund and Uppsala, eventually becoming a professor of botany at Uppsala in 1741. He took time out to become a physician and a professor of medicine. But he returned to his first love and wrote many books on the subject: Systema nature (1735), Fundaments botanica (1736), Genera plantarum (1737), Flora lapponica (1737), Philosophia botanica (1751), Species plantarum (1753), and others. His books marked the beginning of taxonomy, a system of scientific nomenclature of plants and animals. His Species plantarum set the stage for a system he devised, the Linnaean system, which divided the kingdom of animals, vegetables, and minerals into classes, orders, genera, species, and varieties. He was the first to label man homo sapiens, “wise or sapient.”