To Linnaeus and his works. Carl Linnaeus - biography

Linnaeus is the most famous Swedish natural scientist. In Sweden he is also valued as a traveler who discovered their own country for the Swedes, studied the uniqueness of the Swedish provinces and saw “how one province can help another.” The value for the Swedes is not so much Linnaeus’s work on the flora and fauna of Sweden as his descriptions of his own travels; These diary entries, filled with specifics, rich in contrasts, presented in clear language, are still reprinted and read. Linnaeus is one of those scientific and cultural figures with whom the final formation of the literary Swedish language in its modern form is associated.

Karl was the first-born in the family (later Nils Ingemarsson and Christina had four more children - three girls and a boy).

In 1709, the family moved to Stenbruhult, located a couple of kilometers from Rosshult. There Nils Linnaeus planted a small garden near his house, which he lovingly tended; here he grew vegetables, fruits and various flowers, and knew all their names. From early childhood, Karl also showed interest in plants; by the age of eight he knew the names of many plants that were found in the vicinity of Stenbruhult; in addition, he was allocated a small area in the garden for his own small garden.

In 1716-1727, Carl Linnaeus studied in the city of Växjö: first at the lower grammar school (1716-1724), then at the gymnasium (1724-1727). Since Växjö was about fifty kilometers from Stenbruhult, Karl was only at home during the holidays. His parents wanted him to study to be a pastor and in the future, as the eldest son, to take his father’s place, but Karl studied very poorly, especially in the basic subjects of theology and ancient languages. He was only interested in botany and mathematics; Often he even skipped classes, going into nature to study plants instead of school.

Dr. Johan Stensson Rothman (1684-1763), a district doctor who taught logic and medicine at Linnaeus’s school, persuaded Niels Linnaeus to send his son to study as a doctor and began to study medicine, physiology and botany with Karl individually. The parents' concerns about Karl's fate were related, in particular, to the fact that finding work in Sweden for a doctor at that time was very difficult, while at the same time there were no problems with work for a priest.

Study in Lund and Uppsala

At the University of Uppsala, Linnaeus met his peer, student Peter Artedi (1705-1735), with whom they began work on a critical revision of the natural history classifications that existed at that time. Linnaeus was primarily concerned with plants in general, Artedi with fishes, amphibians and umbelliferous plants. It should be noted that the level of teaching at both universities was not very high, and most of the time students were engaged in self-education.

Manuscript of Linnaeus' work (December 1729)

In 1729, Linnaeus met Olof Celsius (1670-1756), a professor of theology who was a keen botanist. This meeting turned out to be very important for Linnaeus: he soon settled in the house of Celsius and gained access to his extensive library. In the same year, Linnaeus wrote a short work “Introduction to the Sexual Life of Plants” (lat. Praeludia sponsaliorum plantarum ), which outlined the main ideas of his future classification of plants based on sexual characteristics. This work aroused great interest in academic circles in Uppsala.

Since 1730, Linnaeus, under the supervision of Professor Olof Rudbeck Jr., began teaching as a demonstrator in the botanical garden of the university. Linnaeus's lectures were a great success. In the same year, he moved into the professor’s house and began serving as a home teacher in his family. Linnaeus, however, did not live in the Rudbeks’ house for too long, the reason for which was an unfulfilled relationship with the professor’s wife.

It is known about educational excursions that Linnaeus conducted during these years in the vicinity of Uppsala.

Linnaeus also had a good relationship with another professor of medicine, Lars Ruberg. Ruberg was a follower of Cynic philosophy, seemed a strange person, dressed poorly, but was a talented scientist and the owner of a large library. Linnaeus admired him and was an active follower of the new mechanistic physiology, which was based on the fact that all the diversity of the world has a single structure and can be reduced to a relatively small number of rational laws, just as physics is reduced to Newton's laws. The main postulate of this doctrine is “man is a machine” (lat. homo machina est), in relation to medicine, as presented by Ruberg, looked like this: “The heart is a pump, the lungs are a bellows, the stomach is a trough.” It is known that Linnaeus was an adherent of another thesis - “man is an animal” (lat. homo animal est). In general, such a mechanistic approach to natural phenomena contributed to the drawing of many parallels both between various areas of natural science and between nature and socio-cultural phenomena. It was on such views that the plans of Linnaeus and his friend Peter Artedi to reform the entire science of nature were based - their main idea was to create a single, ordered system of knowledge that would be easily reviewable.

Having received funds from the Uppsala Royal Scientific Society, Linnaeus set out for Lapland and Finland on 12 May 1732. During his journey, Linnaeus explored and collected plants, animals and minerals, as well as a variety of information about the culture and lifestyle of the local population, including the Sami (Lapps). The idea of ​​this trip largely belonged to Professor Olof Rudbeck Jr., who in 1695 traveled specifically through Lapland (Rudbeck’s trip can be called the first scientific expedition in the history of Sweden), and later, based on materials collected in Lapland, he himself wrote illustrated a book about birds, which he showed to Linnaeus. Linnaeus returned to Uppsala in the fall, on October 10, with collections and records. The same year it was published Florula lapponica(“Brief Flora of Lapland”), in which the so-called “plant sexual system” of 24 classes, based on the structure of stamens and pistils, appears for the first time in print.

During this period, universities in Sweden did not issue doctor of medicine degrees, and Linnaeus, without a doctoral diploma, could not continue teaching in Uppsala.

In 1733, Linnaeus was actively involved in mineralogy and wrote a textbook on this topic. At Christmas 1733, he moved to Falun, where he began teaching assay art and mineralogy.

In 1734, Linnaeus made a botanical journey to the province of Dalarna.

Dutch period

On June 23, 1735, Linnaeus received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Harderwijk, defending his thesis prepared at home, “A New Hypothesis of Intermittent Fever” (on the causes of malaria). From Harderwijk Linnaeus went to Leiden, where he published a short work Systema naturae(“System of Nature”), which opened the way for him to the circle of learned doctors, naturalists and collectors in Holland, who revolved around the European-famous professor at Leiden University, Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738). Linnaeus was helped with the publication of the System of Nature by Jan Gronovius (1686-1762), a doctor of medicine and botanist from Leiden: he was so delighted with this work that he expressed a desire to print it at his own expense. Access to Boerhaave was very difficult, but after the publication of “Systems of Nature,” he himself invited Linnaeus, and soon it was Boerhaave who persuaded Linnaeus not to leave his homeland and stay for a while in Holland.

In August 1735, Linnaeus, under the patronage of friends, received the position of caretaker of the collections and botanical garden of George Clifford (1685-1760), burgomaster of Amsterdam, banker, one of the directors of the Dutch East India Company and a keen amateur botanist. The garden was located on the Hartekamp estate near the city of Haarlem; Linnaeus was engaged in the description and classification of a large collection of living exotic plants delivered to Holland by company ships from all over the world.

Linnaeus's close friend Peter Artedi also moved to Holland; he worked in Amsterdam, organizing the collections of Albert Seb (1665-1736), traveler, zoologist and pharmacist. Unfortunately, on September 27, 1735, Artedi drowned in a canal after tripping while returning home at night. By this time, Artedi managed to finish his general work on ichthyology, and also identified all the fish from Seb’s collection and made their description. Linnaeus and Artedi bequeathed their manuscripts to each other, but for the handing over of the manuscripts to Artedi, the owner of the apartment in which he lived demanded a large ransom, which was paid by Linnaeus thanks to the assistance of George Clifford. Linnaeus later prepared his friend's manuscript for publication and published it in 1738 under the title Ichtyologia. In addition, Linnaeus used Artedi’s proposals for the classification of fish and umbrella plants in his works.

In the summer of 1736, Linnaeus traveled to England, where he lived for several months; he met famous botanists of the time, including Hans Sloan (1660-1753) and Johan Jacob Dillenius (1687-1747).

Carl Linnaeus
Genera plantarum, chapter ratio operis. § 11.

The three years Linnaeus spent in Holland are one of the most fruitful periods of his scientific biography. During this time, his main works were published: first edition Systema naturae(“System of Nature”, 1736), Bibliotheca Botanica(“Botanical Library”, 1736), Musa Clifortiana("Clifford's Banana", 1736), Fundamenta Botanica(“Principles of Botany”, “Principles of Botany”, 1736), Hortus Cliffortianus("Clifford's Garden", 1737), Flora Lapponica(“Flora of Lapland”, 1737), Genera plantarum(“Genera of Plants”, 1737), Critica botanica (1737), Classes plantarum("Classes of Plants", 1738). Some of these books came with wonderful illustrations by the artist George Ehret (1708-1770).

Returning to his homeland, Linnaeus never left its borders again, but three years spent abroad was enough for his name to become world famous very soon. This was facilitated by his numerous works published in Holland (since it quickly became clear that they, in a certain sense, laid the foundation of biology as a full-fledged science), and the fact that he personally met many authoritative botanists of that time (despite the fact that he cannot was called a secular person and he was bad at foreign languages). As Linnaeus later described this period of his life, during this time he “wrote more, discovered more and made more major reforms in botany than anyone else before him in his entire life.”

The publication of such a large number of works was also possible because Linnaeus often did not follow the process of publishing his works; on his behalf, his friends did this.

Linnaeus family

In 1738, after Linnaeus returned to his homeland, he and Sarah officially became engaged, and in September 1739, their wedding took place in the Moreus family farm.

Their first child (later known as Carl Linnaeus Jr.) was born in 1741. They had a total of seven children (two boys and five girls), of whom two (a boy and a girl) died in infancy.

A genus of beautifully flowering South African perennials from the Iris family ( Iridaceae) was named by Linnaeus Moraea(Morea) - in honor of the wife and her father.

Genealogical chart of the Linnaeus family

Linnaeus had three sisters and a brother, Samuel. It was Samuel Linnaeus (1718-1797) who succeeded Nils Ingemarsson Linnaeus, their father, as clergyman of Stenbruhult. Samuel is known in Sweden as the author of a book about beekeeping.

Mature years in Stockholm and Uppsala

Returning to his homeland, Linnaeus opened a medical practice in Stockholm (1738). Having cured several ladies-in-waiting's coughs with a decoction of fresh yarrow leaves, he soon became a court physician and one of the most fashionable doctors in the capital. It is known that in his medical work, Linnaeus actively used strawberries, both to treat gout and to cleanse the blood, improve complexion, and reduce weight. In 1739, Linnaeus, having headed the naval hospital, obtained permission to autopsy the corpses of the dead to determine the cause of death.

In addition to his medical activities, Linnaeus taught in Stockholm at a mining school.

In 1739, Linnaeus took part in the formation of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (which in the early years of its existence was a private society) and became its first chairman.

In October 1741, Linnaeus took up the post of professor of medicine at Uppsala University and moved to the professor's house, located in the University Botanical Garden (now the Linnaeus Garden). The position of professor allowed him to concentrate on writing books and dissertations on natural history. Linnaeus worked at Uppsala University until the end of his life.

In 1750, Carl Linnaeus was appointed rector of Uppsala University.

The most significant publications of the 1750s:

• Philosophia botanica(“Philosophy of Botany”, 1751) - a textbook of botany, translated into many European languages ​​and remaining a model for other textbooks until the beginning of the 19th century.
• Species plantarum(“Plant Species”). The date of publication of the work - May 1, 1753 - is taken as the starting point of botanical nomenclature.
• 10th edition Systema naturae(“System of Nature”). The publication date of this edition - January 1, 1758 - is taken as the starting point of zoological nomenclature.
• Amoenitates academicae(“Academic leisure”, 1751-1790). A ten-volume collection of dissertations written by Linnaeus for his students and partly by the students themselves. Published in Leiden, Stockholm and Erlangen: seven volumes were published during his lifetime (from 1749 to 1769), three more volumes - after his death (from 1785 to 1790). The topics of these works relate to various fields of natural science - botany, zoology, chemistry, anthropology, medicine, mineralogy, etc.

In 1758, Linnaeus acquired the estate (farm) of Hammarby, about ten kilometers southeast of Uppsala; the country house in Hammarby became his summer estate (the estate has been preserved and is now part of the botanical garden "Linnaean Hammarby" owned by Uppsala University).

In 1774, Linnaeus suffered his first stroke (cerebral hemorrhage), as a result of which he was partially paralyzed. In the winter of 1776-1777, a second blow occurred: he lost his memory, tried to leave home, wrote, confusing Latin and Greek letters. On December 30, 1777, Linnaeus became significantly worse, and on January 10, 1778, he died at his home in Uppsala.

As one of the prominent citizens of Uppsala, Linnaeus was buried in Uppsala Cathedral.

Apostles of Linnaeus

The apostles of Linnaeus were his students who participated in botanical and zoological expeditions in various parts of the world, starting in the late 1740s. The plans for some of them were developed by Linnaeus himself or with his participation. From their travels, most of the “apostles” brought or sent plant seeds, herbarium and zoological specimens to their teacher. The expeditions were associated with great dangers: of the 17 disciples who are usually classified as “apostles,” seven died during the travels. This fate also befell Christopher Thernström (1703-1746), the very first “apostle of Linnaeus”; after Ternström's widow accused Linnaeus of the fact that it was his fault that her children would grow up orphans, he began to send on expeditions only those of his students who were unmarried.

Contribution to science

Linnaeus laid the foundations of modern binomial (binary) nomenclature, introducing the so-called taxonomy into practice nomina trivialia, which later began to be used as species epithets in the binomial names of living organisms. The method introduced by Linnaeus of forming a scientific name for each species is still used today (the previously used long names, consisting of a large number of words, gave a description of the species, but were not strictly formalized). The use of a two-word Latin name - the genus name, then the specific name - allowed nomenclature to be separated from taxonomy.

Carl Linnaeus is the author of the most successful artificial classification of plants and animals, which became the basis for the scientific classification of living organisms. He divided the natural world into three “kingdoms”: mineral, plant and animal, using four levels (“ranks”): classes, orders, genera and species.

He described about one and a half thousand new plant species (the total number of plant species he described was more than ten thousand) and a large number of animal species.

Since the 18th century, along with the development of botany, phenology, the science of seasonal natural phenomena, the timing of their occurrence and the reasons that determine these timings, began to actively develop. In Sweden, it was Linnaeus who first began to conduct scientific phenological observations (since 1748); later he organized a network of observers consisting of 18 stations, which existed from 1750 to 1752. One of the world's first scientific works on phenology was the work of Linnaeus in 1756 Calendaria Florae; the development of nature in it is described mostly using the example of the plant kingdom.

Humanity owes the current Celsius scale partly to Linnaeus. Initially, the scale of the thermometer, invented by Linnaeus' colleague at Uppsala University, Professor Anders Celsius (1701-1744), had zero at the boiling point of water and 100 degrees at the freezing point. Linnaeus, who used thermometers to measure conditions in greenhouses and greenhouses, found this inconvenient and in 1745, after the death of Celsius, “turned over” the scale.

Linnaeus Collection

Carl Linnaeus left a huge collection, which included two herbariums, a collection of shells, a collection of insects and a collection of minerals, as well as a large library. “This is the greatest collection the world has ever seen,” he wrote to his wife in a letter that he willed to be made public after his death.

After long family disagreements and contrary to the instructions of Carl Linnaeus, the entire collection went to his son, Carl Linnaeus the Younger (1741-1783), who moved it from the Hammarby Museum to his home in Uppsala and worked extremely hard to preserve the objects included in it (herbarium and the insect collection had already suffered from pests and dampness by that time). The English naturalist Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) offered to sell his collection, but he refused.

But soon after the sudden death of Carl Linnaeus the Younger from a stroke at the end of 1783, his mother (the widow of Carl Linnaeus) wrote to Banks that she was ready to sell him the collection. He did not buy it himself, but convinced the young English naturalist James Edward Smith (1759-1828) to do so. Potential buyers were also Carl Linnaeus' student Baron Claes Alströmer (1736-1794), Russian Empress Catherine the Great, English botanist John Sibthorpe (1758-1796) and others, but Smith turned out to be more prompt: having quickly approved the inventory sent to him, he approved the deal. Scientists and students at Uppsala University demanded that the authorities do everything to leave Linnaeus’s legacy in their homeland, but King Gustav III of Sweden was in Italy at the time, and government officials responded that they could not resolve this issue without his intervention...

In September 1784, the collection left Stockholm on an English brig and was soon safely delivered to England. The legend according to which the Swedes sent their warship to intercept an English brig carrying out the Linnaeus collection has no scientific basis, although it is depicted in an engraving from R. Thornton’s book “A New Illustration of the Linnaeus System”.

The collection received by Smith included 19 thousand herbarium sheets, more than three thousand insect specimens, more than one and a half thousand shells, over seven hundred coral specimens, two and a half thousand mineral specimens; the library consisted of two and a half thousand books, over three thousand letters, as well as manuscripts of Carl Linnaeus, his son and other scientists.

Linneanism

During his lifetime, Linnaeus gained worldwide fame; adherence to his teaching, conventionally called Linneanism, became widespread at the end of the 18th century. And although Linnaeus’s concentration in the study of phenomena on the collection of material and its further classification seems excessive from the point of view of today, and the approach itself seems very one-sided, for its time the activities of Linnaeus and his followers became very important. The spirit of systematization that permeated this activity helped biology in a fairly short time to become a full-fledged science and, in a sense, to catch up with physics, which was actively developing during the 18th century as a result of the scientific revolution.

One of the forms of Linneanism was the creation of “Linnaean societies” - scientific associations of naturalists who based their activities on the ideas of Linnaeus. During his lifetime, in 1874, the Linnean Society of New South Wales arose in Australia, which still exists today.

Soon after the London Society, a similar society appeared in Paris - the “Parisian Linnean Society”. Its heyday came in the first years after the French Revolution. Later, similar “Linnaean societies” appeared in Australia, Belgium, Spain, Canada, USA, Sweden and other countries. Many of these societies still exist today.

Honors

Even during his lifetime, Linnaeus was given metaphorical names that emphasized his unique significance for world science. They called him Princeps botanicorum(there are several translations into Russian - “First among Botanists”, “Prince of Botanists”, “Prince of Botanists”), “Northern Pliny” (in this name Linnaeus is compared with

The outstanding scientist Carl Linnaeus was born in 1707 in Sweden. The system of classification of the living world brought him the greatest fame. It was and is of great importance for all of biology. The researcher traveled a lot around the world. Carl Linnaeus' contribution to biology is also reflected in the definition of many important concepts and terms.

Childhood and youth

Little Karl developed an interest in plants and the entire living world in early childhood. This was due to the fact that his father tended his own garden in the backyard of the house. The child was so interested in plants that it affected his studies. His parents were from families of priests. Both father and mother wanted Karl to become a shepherd. However, the son did not study theology well. Instead, he spent his free time studying plants.

At first, the parents were wary of their son’s hobbies. However, in the end they agreed that Karl should go to study to become a doctor. In 1727 he ended up at Lund University, and a year later he transferred to Uppsala University, which was larger and more prestigious. There he met Peter Artedi. The young guys became best friends. Together they began to revise the existing classification in natural science.

Carl Linnaeus also met Professor Olof Celsius. This meeting was of great importance for the aspiring scientist. Celsius became his comrade-in-arms and helped him in difficult times. The contribution of Carl Linnaeus to biology lies not only in his later, but even in his youthful works. For example, during these years he published his first monograph, which was devoted to the reproductive system of plants.

Naturalist's Travels

In 1732, Carl Linnaeus went to Lapland. This journey was dictated by several goals. The scientist wanted to enrich his knowledge with practical experience. Theoretical work and long research within the walls of the office could not continue indefinitely.

Lapland is a rugged northern province in Finland, which at the time was part of Sweden. The uniqueness of these lands lay in the rare flora and fauna, unknown to the average European of that era. Linnaeus traveled alone for five months through this distant region, exploring plants, animals and minerals. The result of the voyage was a colossal herbarium collected by the naturalist. Many exhibits were unique and unknown to science. Carl Linnaeus began to describe them from scratch. This experience helped him a lot in the future. After the expedition, he published several works on nature, plants, animals, etc. These publications were extremely popular in Sweden. Thanks to Carl Linnaeus, the country was able to learn a lot about itself.

This was also due to the fact that the scientist published ethnographic descriptions of the life and customs of the Sami. An isolated people lived for centuries in the Far North, with virtually no contact with the rest of civilization. Many of Linnaeus's notes are especially interesting today, since the original life of the then inhabitants of the North is a thing of the past.

Sami objects, plants, shells and minerals collected on that journey became the basis of the scientist’s extensive collection. It was replenished until his death. Having visited various parts of the world, he collected artifacts everywhere, which he then carefully stored. This is about 19 thousand plants, 3 thousand insects, hundreds of minerals, shells and corals. Such a legacy shows how great the contribution of Carl Linnaeus to biology was (especially for his era).

"System of Nature"

In 1735, the System of Nature was published in the Netherlands. This work of Linnaeus is his main merit and success. He divided nature into several parts and gave order to the classification of the entire living world. Zoological nomenclature, proposed in the tenth lifetime edition of the author, gave the science binomial names. Now they are used everywhere. They are written in Latin and reflect the species and genus of the animal.

Thanks to this book, the systematic method triumphed throughout science (not just zoology or botany). Each living creature received characteristics according to which it was assigned to a kingdom (for example, animals), group, genus, species, etc. The contribution of Carl Linnaeus to biology is difficult to overestimate. During the author’s lifetime alone, this book was published 13 times (additions and clarifications were included).

"Plant Species"

As mentioned above, plants were a special passion of the Swedish scientist. Botany was a discipline to which numerous bright researchers devoted their work, including Carl Linnaeus. The contribution to the science of biology of this naturalist is reflected in his book “Plant Species”. It appeared in print in 1753 and was divided into two volumes. The publication became the basis for all subsequent nomenclature in botany.

The book contained detailed descriptions of all plant species known to science at that time. Particular attention was paid to the reproductive system (pistils and stamens). In “Plant Species”, binomial nomenclature was used, which was successfully applied in the scientist’s past works. The first edition was followed by a second, on which Carl Linnaeus worked directly. The contributions to biology, briefly described in each textbook, made this science extremely popular. Linnaeus left a galaxy of students who successfully continued the work of their teacher. So, for example, Karl Wildenov, after the author’s death, supplemented this book, based on the principles developed by the Swedish naturalist. The contribution Carl Linnaeus made to biology is still fundamental to this science today.

Last years of life

In the last years of his life, Carl Linnaeus was practically unable to work. In 1774, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, due to which the researcher was partially paralyzed. After the second blow, he lost his memory and died soon after. This happened in 1778. During his lifetime, Linnaeus became a recognized scientist and national pride. He was buried in Uppsala Cathedral, where he studied in his youth.

The scientist’s final work was a multi-volume publication of his lectures for students. Teaching turned out to be an area to which Carl Linnaeus devoted a lot of time and effort. His contribution to biology (every educated person knew about it briefly during the life of a naturalist) made him an authority in a variety of higher educational institutions in Europe.

In addition to his main activity, the researcher also devoted himself to the classification of odors. He based his system on seven main odors, such as cloves, musk, etc. He became the creator of the famous scale, leaving behind an apparatus that showed 100 degrees at the freezing point of water. Zero, on the contrary, meant boiling. Linnaeus, who often used the scale, found this option inconvenient. He turned it around. It is in this form that the scale still exists today. Therefore, the contribution of Carl Linnaeus to the development of biology is not the only thing for which the scientist is famous.

The life and work of Carl Linnaeus.

Linne (Linne, Linnaeus) Karl (23.5.1707, Rosshuld, - 10.1.1778, Uppsala), Swedish naturalist, member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1762). He gained worldwide fame thanks to the system of flora and fauna he created. Born into the family of a village pastor. He studied natural and medical sciences at Lund (1727) and Uppsala (since 1728) universities. In 1732 he made a trip to Lapland, the result of which was the work “Flora of Lapland” (1732, complete publication in 1737). In 1735 he moved to Hartekamp (Holland), where he was in charge of the botanical garden; defended his doctoral dissertation “New hypothesis of intermittent fevers.” In the same year he published the book “The System of Nature” (published during his lifetime in 12 editions). From 1738 he practiced medicine in Stockholm; in 1739 he headed the naval hospital and won the right to autopsy corpses to determine the cause of death. He participated in the creation of the Swedish Academy of Sciences and became its first president (1739). From 1741 he was the head of the department at Uppsala University, where he taught medicine and natural sciences.

The system of flora and fauna created by Linnaeus completed the enormous work of botanists and zoologists of the 1st half of the 18th century. One of Linnaeus's main merits is that in the System of Nature he applied and introduced the so-called binary nomenclature, according to which each species is designated by two Latin names - generic and specific. Linnaeus defined the concept of “species” using both morphological (similarity within the offspring of one family) and physiological (presence of fertile offspring) criteria, and established a clear subordination between systematic categories: class, order, genus, species, variation.

Linnaeus based the classification of plants on the number, size and location of the stamens and pistils of a flower, as well as the sign of a plant being mono-, bi- or multi-homocytic, since he believed that the reproductive organs are the most essential and permanent parts of the body in plants. Based on this principle, he divided all plants into 24 classes. Thanks to the simplicity of the nomenclature he used, descriptive work was greatly facilitated, and species received clear characteristics and names. Linnaeus himself discovered and described about 1,500 plant species.

Linnaeus divided all animals into 6 classes:

1. Mammals 4. Fish

2. Birds 5. Worms

3. Amphibians 6. Insects

The class of amphibians included amphibians and reptiles; he included all forms of invertebrates known in his time, except insects, into the class of worms. One of the advantages of this classification is that man was included in the system of the animal kingdom and assigned to the class of mammals, to the order of primates. The classifications of plants and animals proposed by Linnaeus are artificial from a modern point of view, since they are based on a small number of arbitrarily taken characters and do not reflect the actual relationship between different forms. Thus, based on only one common feature - the structure of the beak - Linnaeus tried to build a “natural” system based on a combination of many features, but did not achieve his goal.

Linnaeus was opposed to the idea of ​​true development of the organic world; he believed that the number of species remains constant, they did not change over the time of their “creation,” and therefore the task of systematics is to reveal the order in nature established by the “creator.” However, the vast experience accumulated by Linnaeus, his acquaintance with plants from various localities could not help but shake his metaphysical ideas. In his last works, Linnaeus, in a very cautious manner, suggested that all species of the same genus initially constituted one species, and allowed the possibility of the emergence of new species formed as a result of crossings between pre-existing species.

Linnaeus also classified soils and minerals, human races, diseases (by symptoms); discovered the poisonous and healing properties of many plants. Linnaeus is the author of a number of works, mainly on botany and zoology, as well as in the field of theoretical and practical medicine (“Medicinal Substances”, “Kinds of Diseases”, “Key to Medicine”).

Linnaeus's libraries, manuscripts and collections were sold by his widow to the English botanist Smith, who founded (1788) the Linnean Society in London, which still exists today as one of the largest scientific centers.

Carl Linnaeus - the great Swedish naturalist, naturalist, founder of scientific botany and taxonomy of plants and animals.

Carl Linnaeus was born in the small Swedish town of Roshult in the family of a priest on May 23, 1707. From an early age, young Carl Linnaeus showed a keen interest in nature. He was inspired to do this by the garden planted by his father, Niels Linnaeus. By the way, the surname Linnaeus is a newly acquired surname. The real name of Linnaeus's father is Ingemarson. The father, following the trend of Christian fashion in the 18th century, changed his surname. He chose the linden tree that grew in front of the house as the prototype of the surname. Linden is Latin for Linden. Hence the surname – Linneus (Lindeus).

The parents dreamed that their son would continue his father’s work - to become a pastor of the word of God. But from an early age Linnaeus was passionate about plants, which took up all his time. Because of this, Linnaeus studied very poorly in elementary school and gymnasium.

In 1727, Linnaeus entered the University of Lund, where he closely studied the local flora. At Uppsala University, Linnaeus also received a medical education, where he met many prominent scientists of the time, for example Celsius, the ichthyologist Artedi. This is also where his famous journey through Lapland took place.

In 1732, the scientist was on expeditions from May to September, the result of which was a small work on the plants, animals and minerals of Lapland.

In 1734, Linnaeus arrived in Amsterdam, where he met his future wife, the daughter of a local doctor named Moreus.

Having access to the scientific library of Amsterdam, Linnaeus studied works on botany, zoology, mineralogy and came to the conclusion that modern botany, like zoology, does not have a clear nomenclature of plants and animals based on the general relationship of taxonomic units of nature. Thanks to the work and efforts of Linnaeus, the first edition of “Systema naturae” was published in 1735. The edition had only 14! pages. This work became the most important in the life of a scientist. It was on this work that Linnaeus worked until his very last breath. When the last lifetime edition (12th) was published, it was already a four-volume set containing 2335 pages.

In 1738, Linnaeus came to Stockholm, where he married, received a position as a doctor, and established the Royal Academy of Sciences, becoming its first president. Linnaeus's wife, according to contemporaries, was not an assistant to him in his difficult work and did not have any particular sharpness of mind or interest in her husband's affairs. They had several daughters and a son. The mother loved her daughters, but for some reason she didn’t really love her son. And he often turned Linnaeus against his son. But he, on the contrary, loved his son very much and attracted him to botanical research.

Linnaeus conquered many of the scientific communities of his time with his work and perseverance. He was also an honorary member of our native St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

The Linnaean binary system is still used today. Many scientists consider the system artificial, but this does not detract from the merits of Carl Linnaeus, the father of botany.

Linnaeus lived for 71 years and, surrounded by honors, died quietly and peacefully on his estate in 1778.

5th grade briefly for children

Biography of Carl Linnaeus about the main thing, grade 5

Carl Linnaeus was born on May 23, 1707, in the city of Rosshult. But he spent his childhood in the city of Ingemarson. Karl's parents wanted to enroll him as a priest, but his uncontrollable love for nature and the exact sciences gave rise to other plans for life in the little boy. While studying at school in the town of Vaxjo, theology and languages ​​were difficult for Karl, unlike botany and mathematics. Latin was also not easy for the great scientist, and only for the sake of reading Pliny’s book “Natural Sciences”. But Karl never became a priest. A career as a doctor lay ahead of him.

Soon Carl Linnaeus entered Lund University. But on the recommendations of Dr. Rothman, he left Lund University and entered Uppsala University. But despite this, Karl was more engaged in self-education.

In 1732, Karl visited Lapland to replenish his knowledge about wildlife. This trip was not the only one in the life of the Swedish scientist. After several scientific expeditions, he returned to his homeland and plunged headlong into medicine. Where he achieved considerable success thanks to the use of plants for medicinal purposes.

In 1742, Karl became a professor of botany in the scientific department at Uppsala University. A huge role in his performances was played by the botanical garden, in which the plants brought by Linn from his expeditions grew. Afterwards, having moved to the Gammarba estate in Uppsala, he delved into science. And in 1753 he published his work “Plant System”, on which he worked for 25 years.

The contribution of Carl Linnaeus to natural sciences is truly invaluable. He did not discover any new laws and knowledge, he streamlined the existing ones. Linnaeus divided all living things into three kingdoms. And they, in turn, were divided into classes, orders, genera, and species. Which made studying nature much easier.

Carl Linnaeus had seven children, two of whom died in childhood.

The scientist died in 1778. From severe illnesses and three strokes.

5th grade briefly for children

Interesting facts and dates from life

Early years

Carl Linnaeus was born on May 23, 1707 in Southern Sweden - in the village of Roshult, Småland province. His father is Nils Ingemarsson Linnaeus (Swedish: Nicolaus (Nils) Ingemarsson Linnaeus, 1674-1748), a village priest; mother - Christina Linnaea (Brodersonia) (Swedish: Christina Linnaea (Brodersonia), 1688-1733), daughter of a village priest.

In 1709, the family moved to Stenbrohult, located a couple of kilometers from Roshult. There, Nils Linnaeus planted a small garden near his house, which he lovingly tended. From early childhood, Karl also showed an interest in plants.

In 1716-1727, Carl Linnaeus studied in the city of Växjö: first at the lower grammar school (1716-1724), then at the gymnasium (1724-1727). Since Växjö was about fifty kilometers from Stenbrohult, Karl was only at home during the holidays. His parents wanted him to study to be a pastor and in the future, as the eldest son, to take his father’s place, but Karl studied very poorly, especially in the basic subjects of theology and ancient languages. He was only interested in botany and mathematics; Often he even skipped classes, going into nature to study plants instead of school.

Dr. Johan Rothman (1684-1763), a district doctor who taught logic and medicine at Linnaeus’s school, persuaded Niels Linnaeus to send his son to study as a doctor and began to study medicine, physiology and botany with Karl individually.

Study in Lund and Uppsala

In 1727, Linnaeus passed the exams and was enrolled at Lund University - Lund (Swedish: Lund) was the closest city to Växjö that had a higher education institution. Linnaeus was most interested in the lectures of Professor Kilian Stobeus (1690-1742), with the help of which Karl largely put in order the information that he had gleaned from books and his own observations.

In August 1728, Linnaeus, on the advice of Johan Rothmann, transferred to Uppsala University, where there were more opportunities to study medicine. The level of teaching at both universities was not very high, and most of the time Linnaeus was engaged in self-education.

In Uppsala, Linnaeus met his peer, student Peter Artedi (1705-1735), together with whom they began work on a critical revision of the natural history classifications that existed at that time. Linnaeus was primarily concerned with plants in general, Artedi with fish and umbrella plants.

In 1729, Linnaeus met Olof Celsius (sv) (1670-1756), a professor of theology who was a keen botanist. This meeting turned out to be very important for Linnaeus: he soon settled in the house of Celsius and gained access to his extensive library. In the same year, Linnaeus wrote a short work “Introduction to the Sexual Life of Plants” (lat. Praeludia sponsaliorum plantarum), which outlined the main ideas of his future classification of plants based on sexual characteristics. This work aroused great interest in academic circles in Uppsala.

From 1730, Linnaeus began teaching as a demonstrator in the botanical garden of the university under the supervision of Professor Olof Rudbeck Jr. Linnaeus's lectures were a great success. In the same year, Linnaeus moved into the house of Olof Rudbeck Jr.

On May 12, 1732, Linnaeus set off on a trip to Lapland, from where he returned only in the fall, on October 10, with collections and records. In 1732, Florula lapponica (“Brief Flora of Lapland”) was published, in which the so-called sexual system of plants of 24 classes, based on the structure of stamens and pistils, appears for the first time in print. During this period, universities in Sweden did not issue doctoral degrees in medicine, and Linnaeus, without a doctoral diploma, could not continue teaching in Uppsala.

In 1733, Linnaeus was actively involved in mineralogy and wrote a textbook on this topic. At Christmas 1733, he moved to Falun, where he began teaching assay art and mineralogy.

In 1734, Linnaeus made a botanical journey to the province of Dalarna.

Dutch period

In the spring of 1735, Linnaeus went to Holland for his doctorate, accompanying one of his students. Before arriving in Holland, Linnaeus visited Hamburg. On June 23, he received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Harderwijk for his thesis on the causes of intermittent fever (malaria). From Harderwijk, Linnaeus headed to Leiden, where he published a short work, Systema naturae, which opened the way for him to the circle of learned doctors, naturalists and collectors in Holland, who revolved around the professor of Leiden University, Hermann Boerhaave, who enjoyed European fame.

In August 1735, Linnaeus, with the patronage of friends, received the position of caretaker of the collections and botanical garden of the burgomaster of Amsterdam and director of the Dutch East India Company, George Clifford (en) (1685-1760). The garden was located near the city of Haarlem; it contained many exotic plants from all over the world - and Linnaeus was engaged in their description and classification.

On September 27, 1735, Linnaeus's close friend Peter Artedi drowned in a canal in Amsterdam, where he was working organizing the collections of the traveler, zoologist, and pharmacist Albert Seb (1665-1736). Linnaeus later published Artedi's work on ichthyology and used his proposals for the classification of fish and umbrellas in his works.

In the summer of 1736, Linnaeus lived for several months in England, where he met with the famous botanists of the time, Hans Sloane (1660-1753) and Johan Jakob Dillenius (de) (1687-1747).

The three years Linnaeus spent in Holland are one of the most productive periods of his scientific biography. During this time, his main works were published: in addition to the first edition of Systema naturae (System of Nature), Linnaeus managed to publish Bibliotheca Botanica (a systematic catalog of literature on botany), Fundamenta Botanica (a collection of aphorisms on the principles of description and classification of plants), Musa Cliffordiana (Description of a banana, growing in Clifford's garden, in which Linnaeus publishes one of the first sketches of the natural plant system), Hortus Cliffordianus (description of Clifford's garden), Flora Lapponica (Lapland flora), Genera plantarum (characteristics of plant genera), Classes plantarum (comparison of all known at that time plant systems with the system of Linnaeus himself and the first publication of Linnaeus’s natural plant system in full), Critica botanica (a set of rules for the formation of names of plant genera). Some of these books came with wonderful illustrations by the artist George Ehret (en) (1708-1770).

In 1738, Linnaeus went back to Sweden, visiting Paris along the way, where he met the botanists the Jussieux brothers.

Linnaeus family

In 1734, at Christmas, Linnaeus met his future wife: her name was Sara Elisabeth (Elisabeth, Lisa) Moraea (Mor?a), 1716-1806), she was the daughter of Johan Hansson Moreus (Swedish. Johan Hansson Moraeus (Mor?us), 1672-1742), city physician in Falun. Just two weeks after they met, Linnaeus proposed to her. In the spring of 1735, shortly before leaving for Europe, Linnaeus and Sarah became engaged (without a formal ceremony). Linnaeus partially received money for the trip from his future father-in-law.

In 1738, after returning from Europe, Linnaeus and Sarah officially became engaged, and in September 1739, a wedding took place in the Moreus family farm.

Their first child (later known as Carl Linnaeus Jr.) was born in 1741. They had a total of seven children (two boys and five girls), of whom two (a boy and a girl) died in infancy.

The genus of beautifully flowering South African perennials from the Iris family (Iridaceae) was named Moraea (Morea) by Linnaeus - in honor of his wife and her father.

Returning to his homeland, Linnaeus opened a medical practice in Stockholm (1738). Having cured several ladies-in-waiting's coughs with a decoction of fresh yarrow leaves, he soon became a court physician and one of the most fashionable doctors in the capital. It is known that in his medical work, Linnaeus actively used strawberries, both to treat gout and to cleanse the blood, improve complexion, and reduce weight.

In addition to his medical activities, Linnaeus taught in Stockholm at a mining school.

In 1739, Linnaeus took part in the formation of the Royal Academy of Sciences (which in the early years of its existence was a private society) and became its first chairman.

In October 1741, Linnaeus took up the post of professor of medicine at Uppsala University and moved to the professor's house, located in the University Botanical Garden (now the Linnaeus Garden). The position of professor allowed him to concentrate on writing books and dissertations on natural history. Linnaeus worked at Uppsala University until the end of his life.

On behalf of the Swedish Parliament, Linnaeus participated in scientific expeditions - in 1741 to Öland and Gotland, the Swedish islands in the Baltic Sea, in 1746 - to the province of Västergötland (sv) (Western Sweden), and in 1749 - to the province of Skåne (Southern Sweden ).

In 1750, Carl Linnaeus was appointed rector of Uppsala University.

The most significant publications of the 1750s:

• Philosophia botanica ("Philosophy of Botany", 1751) is a botany textbook that was translated into many European languages ​​and remained a model for other textbooks until the early 19th century.
• Species plantarum ("Species of plants"). The date of publication of the work - May 1, 1753 - is taken as the starting point of botanical nomenclature.
• 10th edition of Systema naturae ("System of Nature"). The publication date of this edition - January 1, 1758 - is taken as the starting point of zoological nomenclature.
• Amoenitates academicae (“Academic leisure”, 1751-1790). A collection of dissertations written by Linnaeus for his students and partly by the students themselves.

In 1758, Linnaeus acquired the farm Hammarby (Swedish: Hammarby) about ten kilometers southeast of Uppsala (now Linnaeus Hammarby). The country house in Hammarby became his summer estate.

In 1757 Linnaeus was presented to the nobility, which, after several years of consideration of the matter, was awarded to him in 1761. Linnaeus then changed his name to the French style - Carl von Linne - and came up with a coat of arms with an image of an egg and symbols of the three kingdoms of nature.

In 1774, Linnaeus suffered his first stroke (cerebral hemorrhage), as a result of which he was partially paralyzed. In the winter of 1776-1777 there was a second blow. On December 30, 1777, Linnaeus became significantly worse, and on January 10, 1778, he died at his home in Uppsala.

As one of the prominent citizens of Uppsala, Linnaeus was buried in Uppsala Cathedral.

Linnaeus Collection

Carl Linnaeus left a huge collection, which included two herbariums, a collection of shells, a collection of insects and a collection of minerals, as well as a large library. “This is the greatest collection the world has ever seen,” he wrote to his wife in a letter that he bequeathed to be made public after his death.

After much family disagreement and contrary to the instructions of Carl Linnaeus, the entire collection went to his son, Carl von Linne d.y., 1741-1783, who moved it from the Hammarby Museum to his home in Uppsala and worked extremely hard to preserve it. items included in it (the herbariums and the collection of insects had already suffered from pests and dampness by that time). The English naturalist Sir Joseph Banks (English Joseph Banks, 1743-1820) offered him to sell the collection, but he refused.

But soon after the sudden death of Carl Linnaeus the Younger from a stroke at the end of 1783, his mother (the widow of Carl Linnaeus) wrote to Banks that she was ready to sell him the collection. He did not buy it himself, but convinced the young English naturalist James Edward Smith (1759-1828) to do so. Potential buyers were also Carl Linnaeus's student Baron Clas Alstromer (Swedish Clas Alstromer, 1736-1894), Russian Empress Catherine the Great, English botanist John Sibthorp (English John Sibthorp, 1758-1796) and others, but Smith turned out to be more prompt: he quickly approved the inventory sent to him, he approved the deal. Scientists and students at Uppsala University demanded that the authorities do everything to leave Linnaeus’s legacy in their homeland, but government officials responded that they could not resolve this issue without the intervention of the king, and King Gustav III was in Italy at that time...

In September 1784, the collection left Stockholm on an English brig and was soon safely delivered to England. The legend according to which the Swedes sent a warship to intercept an English brig carrying out the Linnaeus collection has no scientific basis, although it is depicted in an engraving from R. Thornton’s book “A New Illustration of the Linnaeus System.”

The collection received by Smith included 19 thousand herbarium sheets, more than three thousand insect specimens, more than one and a half thousand shells, over seven hundred coral specimens, two and a half thousand mineral specimens; the library consisted of two and a half thousand books, over three thousand letters, as well as manuscripts of Carl Linnaeus, his son and other scientists.

In 1788, Smith founded the Linnean Society of London in London, whose purpose was declared to be “the development of science in all its manifestations,” including the storage and development of Linnaeus’s teachings. Today this society is one of the most authoritative scientific centers, especially in the field of biological systematics. A significant part of the Linnaeus collection is still stored in a special repository of the society (and is available for work by researchers).

Contribution to science

Linnaeus divided the natural world into three kingdoms: mineral, plant and animal, using four levels (ranks): classes, orders, genera and species.

The method introduced by Linnaeus of forming a scientific name for each species is still used today (the previously used long names, consisting of a large number of words, gave a description of the species, but were not strictly formalized). The use of a two-word Latin name - the genus name, then the specific name - made it possible to separate nomenclature from taxonomy. This species naming convention is called “binomial nomenclature.”