Carl Linnaeus (Swedish original name Carl Nilsson Linnæus, 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné, is a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who lays 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.
Many of his writings are in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus (after 1761 Carolus a Linné).
Born in the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden, Linnaeus receives most of his higher education at Uppsala University, and begins giving lectures in botany there in 1730.
He lives abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studies and also publishes a first edition of his Systema Naturae in the Netherlands.
He then returns to Sweden, where he becomes professor of botany at Uppsala.
In the 1740s, he is sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals.
In the 1750s and 60s, he continues to collect and classify animals, plants, and minerals, and publishes several volumes.
At the time of his death, he is one of the most acclaimed scientists in Europe.
The Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau sends him the message: "Tell him I know no greater man on earth."
The German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe writes: "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 writes: "Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist".
Among other compliments, Linnaeus has been called Princeps botanicorum (Prince of Botanists), "The Pliny of the North," and "The Second Adam".
(Broberg, Gunnar (2006).
Carl Linnaeus.
Stockholm: Swedish Institute.)
In botany, the author abbreviation used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for species' names is L.
