Father of taxonomy - Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)

Carolus Linnaeus was also known as Carl Linnaeus, Carl Linne or Carl Von Linne. He was born in Rashult, Sweden on 23 May 1707. He was the son of a clergyman, Nils, who had adopted the Latinized family name when he became a student of theology.

Linnaeus enter the University of Uppsala in 1729. He then published his first paper on the sexuality of plants in 1729.

Before Linnaeus took on the task of organizing the plant and animal kingdoms, names were mostly strings or words.

In 1737 Linnaeus published several manuscript, including Hortus cliffortianus and General plantarum.

Carl Linnaeus published his Species Plantarum (1753). He gave each kind of plant and animal just two names. The first name told the genus (group) to which the plant or animal belonged. The second name described the species within that group.

This two word system of naming is known as the binomial system of nomenclature.

In recognition of his contributions, Linnaeus was made Knights of the Polar Star in 1753, the first Swedish scientist to get this honor.
Carl Linnaeus