Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (1707–1778)

Carl Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus (<a href="/en/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English" class="wl">/lɪˈniːəs, lɪˈneɪəs/</a>;<a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a><a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a> 23 May<a href="#cite_note-birthdate-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;" data-mw-group="note">[note 1]</a> 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his <a href="/en/Nobility#Ennoblement" title="Nobility" class="wl">ennoblement</a> in 1761 as Carl von Linné<a href="#cite_note-Blunt171-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a> (<small about="#mwt46" typeof="mw:Transclusion" data-mw="{&quot;parts&quot;:[{&quot;template&quot;:{&quot;target&quot;:{&quot;wt&quot;:&quot;IPA-sv&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;./Template:IPA-sv&quot;},&quot;params&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:{&quot;wt&quot;:&quot;ˈkɑːɭ fɔn lɪˈneː&quot;},&quot;2&quot;:{&quot;wt&quot;:&quot;-&quot;},&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;wt&quot;:&quot;sv-Carl_von_Linné.ogg&quot;}},&quot;i&quot;:0}}]}">Swedish pronunciation:&nbsp;<a href="/en/Help:IPA/Swedish" title="Help:IPA/Swedish" class="wl">[ˈkɑːɭ fɔn lɪˈneː]</a> (<a href="/en/File:Sv-Carl_von_Linné.ogg" title="About this sound" class="image wl"><img loading="lazy" alt="Loudspeaker.svg" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg/11px-Loudspeaker.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20" data-file-type="drawing" height="11" width="11" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg/17px-Loudspeaker.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg/22px-Loudspeaker.svg.png 2x"></a><a href="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Sv-Carl_von_Linn%C3%A9.ogg" resource="./Media:Sv-Carl_von_Linné.ogg" title="Sv-Carl von Linn%C3%A9.ogg" target="_blank">listen</a>)), was a Swedish <a href="/en/Botanist" title="Botanist" class="mw-redirect wl">botanist</a>, <a href="/en/Zoologist" title="Zoologist" class="mw-redirect wl">zoologist</a>, <a href="/en/Taxonomist" title="Taxonomist" class="mw-redirect wl">taxonomist</a>, and <a href="/en/Physician" title="Physician" class="wl">physician</a> who formalised <a href="/en/Binomial_nomenclature" title="Binomial nomenclature" class="wl">binomial nomenclature</a>, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern <a href="/en/Taxonomy_(biology)" title="Taxonomy (biology)" class="wl">taxonomy</a>".<a href="#cite_note-calisher-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;">[4]</a> Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus and, after his 1761 <a href="/en/Ennoblement" title="Ennoblement" class="wl">ennoblement</a>, as Carolus a Linné.

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (1707–1778)</div>
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn">Quick facts: Carl Linnaeus, Born, Died, Resting place, Nat... ▼</header> <table class="infobox biography vcard mobile-collapse-element"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above" style="font-size:125%;"><div class="fn" style="display:inline">Carl Linnaeus</div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><a href="/en/File:Carl_von_Linné,_1707-1778,_botanist,_professor_(Alexander_Roslin)_-_Nationalmuseum_-_15723.tif" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Carl_von_Linné,_1707-1778,_botanist,_professor_(Alexander_Roslin)_-_Nationalmuseum_-_15723.tif"><img loading="lazy"alt="Portrait of Linnaeus on a brown background with the word &quot;Linne&quot; in the top right corner" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Carl_von_Linn%C3%A9%2C_1707-1778%2C_botanist%2C_professor_%28Alexander_Roslin%29_-_Nationalmuseum_-_15723.tif/lossy-page1-220px-Carl_von_Linn%C3%A9%2C_1707-1778%2C_botanist%2C_professor_%28Alexander_Roslin%29_-_Nationalmuseum_-_15723.tif.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="3032" data-file-height="3655" data-file-type="bitmap" height="265" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Carl_von_Linn%C3%A9%2C_1707-1778%2C_botanist%2C_professor_%28Alexander_Roslin%29_-_Nationalmuseum_-_15723.tif/lossy-page1-330px-Carl_von_Linn%C3%A9%2C_1707-1778%2C_botanist%2C_professor_%28Alexander_Roslin%29_-_Nationalmuseum_-_15723.tif.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Carl_von_Linn%C3%A9%2C_1707-1778%2C_botanist%2C_professor_%28Alexander_Roslin%29_-_Nationalmuseum_-_15723.tif/lossy-page1-440px-Carl_von_Linn%C3%A9%2C_1707-1778%2C_botanist%2C_professor_%28Alexander_Roslin%29_-_Nationalmuseum_-_15723.tif.jpg 2x"></a><div class="infobox-caption">Carl von Linné by <a href="/en/Alexander_Roslin" title="Alexander Roslin" class="wl">Alexander Roslin</a>, 1775 (oil on canvas, <a href="/en/Gripsholm_Castle" title="Gripsholm Castle" class="wl">Gripsholm Castle</a>)</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Born</th><td class="infobox-data">(1707-05-23)23 May 1707<a href="#cite_note-birthdate-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;" data-mw-group="note">[note 1]</a> <div style="display:inline" class="birthplace"><a href="/en/Råshult" title="Råshult" class="wl">Råshult</a>, Stenbrohult parish (now within <a href="/en/Älmhult_Municipality" title="Älmhult Municipality" class="wl">Älmhult Municipality</a>), <a href="/en/Sweden" title="Sweden" class="wl">Sweden</a></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Died</th><td class="infobox-data">10 January 1778(1778-01-10) (aged&nbsp;70) <div style="display:inline" class="deathplace">Hammarby (estate), Danmark parish (outside Uppsala), Sweden</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Resting place</th><td class="infobox-data label"><a href="/en/Uppsala_Cathedral" title="Uppsala Cathedral" class="wl">Uppsala Cathedral</a> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1073938472" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}</style><a rel="mw:ExtLink" href="//geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Carl_Linnaeus&amp;params=59_51_29_N_17_38_00_E_region:SE_type:landmark" class="external text" target="_blank">59°51′29″N 17°38′00″E</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Nationality</th><td class="infobox-data category">Swedish</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Alma&nbsp;mater</th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist ">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Lund_University" title="Lund University" class="wl">Lund University</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Uppsala_University" title="Uppsala University" class="wl">Uppsala University</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/University_of_Harderwijk" title="University of Harderwijk" class="wl">University of Harderwijk</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Known&nbsp;for</th><td class="infobox-data"><div class="plainlist ">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Binomial_nomenclature" title="Binomial nomenclature" class="wl">Binomial nomenclature</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Taxonomy_(biology)" title="Taxonomy (biology)" class="wl">Taxonomy</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Spouse</th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="display:inline;white-space:nowrap;"><div style="display:inline-block;line-height:normal;margin-top:1px;white-space:normal;"><a href="/en/Sara_Elisabeth_Moræa" title="Sara Elisabeth Moræa" class="wl">Sara Elisabeth Moræa</a></div>
 <div style="line-height:0;margin-bottom:-2px;">​</div> <div style="display:inline-block;margin-bottom:1px;">​</div>(<abbr about="#mwt39" typeof="mw:ExpandedAttrs" data-mw="{&quot;attribs&quot;:[[{&quot;txt&quot;:&quot;title&quot;},{&quot;html&quot;:&quot;married&quot;}]]}">m.</abbr>&nbsp;1739)​</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Children</th><td class="infobox-data">7</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data">Scientific career</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Fields</th><td class="infobox-data category"><div class="plainlist ">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Biology" title="Biology" class="wl">Biology</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Botany" title="Botany" class="wl">Botany</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Zoology" title="Zoology" class="wl">Zoology</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Institutions</th><td class="infobox-data">Uppsala University</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Thesis" title="Thesis" class="wl">Thesis</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=K8NkAAAAcAAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover" class="external text" target="_blank">Dissertatio medica inauguralis in qua exhibetur hypothesis nova de febrium intermittentium causa</a>&nbsp;(1735)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Notable students</th><td class="infobox-data"><div class="plainlist ">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Peter_Ascanius" title="Peter Ascanius" class="wl">Peter Ascanius</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Johann_Friedrich_Gmelin" title="Johann Friedrich Gmelin" class="wl">Johann Friedrich Gmelin</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Author_citation_(botany)" title="Author citation (botany)" class="wl">Author&nbsp;abbrev. (botany)</a></th><td class="infobox-data">L.</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Author_citation_(zoology)" title="Author citation (zoology)" class="wl">Author&nbsp;abbrev. (zoology)</a></th><td class="infobox-data">Linn.</td></tr><tr style="display:none"><td colspan="2">
</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header">Signature</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"><a href="/en/File:Linne_autograph.png.svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Linne_autograph.png.svg"><img loading="lazy"alt="Carl v. Linné" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Linne_autograph.svg/150px-Linne_autograph.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="300" data-file-height="85" data-file-type="drawing" height="43" width="150" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Linne_autograph.svg/225px-Linne_autograph.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Linne_autograph.svg/300px-Linne_autograph.svg.png 2x"></a></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'>Close ▲</footer></div>

Linnaeus was born in <a href="/en/Råshult" title="Råshult" class="wl">Råshult</a>, the countryside of <a href="/en/Småland" title="Småland" class="wl">Småland</a>, in southern Sweden. He received most of his higher education at <a href="/en/Uppsala_University" title="Uppsala University" class="wl">Uppsala University</a> 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 <a href="/en/Systema_Naturae" title="Systema Naturae" class="wl">Systema Naturae</a> 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 <a href="/en/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau" title="Jean-Jacques Rousseau" class="wl">Jean-Jacques Rousseau</a> sent him the message: "Tell him I know no greater man on earth."<a href="#cite_note-autogenerated3-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;">[5]</a> <a href="/en/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe" title="Johann Wolfgang von Goethe" class="wl">Johann Wolfgang von Goethe</a> wrote: "With the exception of Shakespeare and <a href="/en/Baruch_Spinoza" title="Baruch Spinoza" class="wl">Spinoza</a>, I know no one among the no longer living who has influenced me more strongly."<a href="#cite_note-autogenerated3-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;">[5]</a> Swedish author <a href="/en/August_Strindberg" title="August Strindberg" class="wl">August Strindberg</a> wrote: "Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist."<a href="#cite_note-deceased-7" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 6;">[6]</a> Linnaeus has been called Princeps botanicorum (Prince of Botanists) and "The <a href="/en/Natural_History_(Pliny)" title="Natural History (Pliny)" class="wl">Pliny</a> of the North".<a href="#cite_note-Broberg7-8" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 7;">[7]</a> He is also considered one of the founders of modern <a href="/en/Ecology" title="Ecology" class="wl">ecology</a>.<a href="#cite_note-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 8;">[8]</a>

In botany and zoology, the abbreviation L. is used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for a species' name.<a href="#cite_note-10" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;">[9]</a> In older publications, the abbreviation "Linn." is found. Linnaeus's remains constitute the <a href="/en/Type_(biology)#Lectotype" title="Type (biology)" class="wl">type specimen</a> for the species <a href="/en/Homo_sapiens" title="Homo sapiens" class="mw-redirect wl">Homo sapiens</a> following the <a href="/en/International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature" title="International Code of Zoological Nomenclature" class="wl">International Code of Zoological Nomenclature</a>, since the sole specimen that he is known to have examined was himself.<a href="#cite_note-holotype-11" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;" data-mw-group="note">[note 2]</a>

Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus and, after his 1761 ennoblement, as Carolus a Linné. Linnaeus was born in Råshult, 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. 