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Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné)
Portrait of Linnaeus on a brown background with the word "Linne" in the top right corner
Carl von Linné, Alexander Roslin, 1775
(oil on canvas, Gripsholm Castle)
Born 23 May 1707
Råshult, Stenbrohult parish (now within Älmhult Municipality), Sweden
Died 10 January 1778 (aged 70)
Hammarby (estate), Danmark parish (outside Uppsala), Sweden
Resting place Uppsala Cathedral
59°51′29″N 17°38′00″E
Residence Sweden
Nationality Swedish
Alma mater Lund University
Uppsala University
University of Harderwijk
Known for Binomial nomenclature
Scientific classification
Taxonomy
Spouse(s) Sara Elisabeth Moraea
Children 7
Scientific career
Fields Botany
Biology
Zoology
Institutions Uppsala University
Thesis Dissertatio medica inauguralis in qua exhibetur hypothesis nova de febrium intermittentium causa (1735)
Notable students Peter Ascanius
Author abbrev. (botany) L.
Author abbrev. (zoology) Linnaeus
Signature
Carl v. Linné

Carl Linnaeus (/lɪˈnəs, lɪˈnəs/; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné, was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus (after 1761 Carolus a Linné).

Linnaeus was born in the countryside of Småland in southern Sweden. He received most of his higher education at Uppsala University and began giving lectures in botany there in 1730. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published the first edition of his Systema Naturae in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals. In the 1750s and 1760s, he continued to collect and classify animals, plants, and minerals, while publishing several volumes. He was one of the most acclaimed scientists in Europe at the time of his death.

Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau sent him the message: "Tell him I know no greater man on earth." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote: "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 wrote: "Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist". Linnaeus has been called Princeps botanicorum (Prince of Botanists) and "The Pliny of the North". He is also considered as one of the founders of modern ecology.

In botany, the abbreviation L. is used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for a species' name. In older publications, the abbreviation "Linn." is found. Linnaeus' remains comprise the type specimen for the species Homo sapiens following the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, since the sole specimen that he is known to have examined was himself.

Early life

Childhood