FATHER OF MODERN TAXONOMY-CARL LINNEAUS | BIOGRAPHY

The father of Modern Taxonomy - Carl Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus: Now, you are going to know about the person who has contributed the most to your syllabus. Right, the Carl von Linnaeus/ Carl con Linné also called the Father of Modern Taxonomy. He was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician. August Strindberg wrote "Linnaeus was, in
reality, a poet who happened to become a naturalist" and called him 'Prince of Botanists'. Linnaeus was also called 'the Pilny of North'. He was also one of the founders of Modern Ecology.

FATHER OF MODERN TAXONOMY-CARL LINNAEUS | BIOGRAPHY |

(When the spiritual light is concentrated in the brain, everything else must be sinking in the dark)

He was born on 23 May 1707 at Stenbrohult parish,

Sweden now in Almhutt Municipality and died on 10 January

1778 at an age of 70 years,

in Hammarby, Denmark parish Sweden. He is buried inland

of Uppsala Cathedral.

Work:

He spent many years abroad. His paper Systema Naturae was published in the Netherlands. Then he returned to Sweden and became professor of Medicine and Botany at Uppsala University. He was sent to many journeys by the Uppsala University. He has been traveling 1740 to 1760s, collected and classified animals, plants, and minerals and published many volumes. Lately, he began to doubt Tournefort's system of plant classification and decided to decide plants by number of stamens and pistils.

On 12 May, 1732, he started his journey to Lapland in foot and house with his journal and Botanical, Ornithological manuscripts and sheets of paper for pressing plants. He returned in October after a journey of six months and 2000 kilometers with 100 unidentified plants l, some birds and rocks. And it became the basis for his" Flora Lapponica" book, which is considered as "the most Classic and Delightful" works of Linnaeus by E. L. Greene.

His idea of Man sharing a hierarchy with monkeys was considered as "most important sign of Linnaeus genius" by Ernst Haeckel (1907).

Like every new work deserves some critics and contradiction, his idea of "man being an upgraded version of monkeys" has received criticism from John Gottschalk Wallerius, Jacob Theodor Klein, Johan Georg Gmedin, who called it "illogical". Do to combat this, Linnaeus introduced Mammalia and Primates in his 10th edition of Genera Plantarum in which Primates replaced the Anthropomorphic" division in which he placed both Monkey and Man in his First Edition of the book.

He divided human-based on Skin Color and Continents in his first edition of Systema Naturae. In the tenth edition, he added Wastebasket taxon for unknown, wild, and monstrous humans.

He also explored Dalarna, central Sweden to catalog already known resources and to discover the new ones and also to have knowledge about the mining activities of Norway at Roros which was famous for Copper mining. His Dalarna expedition with his few students was funded by the then Governor of Dalarna himself. Roros was entitled as a World Heritage Site in 1980.

Lucky fortune:

Professor Kilian Stobaeus offered him tutoring and lodging and allowed him to use his library having Botany books and also gave him free lectures.

Rothman advised him to join Uppsala University to study both Medicine and Botany. When he wrote thesis "Praeludia Sponsaliorum Plantarum" on Plant sexual reproduction, he got the attention of Olof Rudbeck the Younger and therefore he got selected in May 1730 to give lectures at Uppsala University as Rudbeck by then was older and not so interested in teaching.

Though Linnaeus was a second year student yet his lectures were getting popular and he often has addressed 300 people at a time.

He again got lucky to meet a benefactor "Olof Celsius who was a Professor of Theology and an amateur Botanist. Celsius welcomed Linnaeus into his home and allowed his use of his library which was one of the richest Botanical libraries in Sweden.

In 1730, Linnaeus moved to Rudbeck's house to give tuition to his three children. But Linnaeus continued Botanical Expedition with Celsius.

He received private tuition in Medicine from 'Nils Rosén, former Rudbeck's Assistant.

Award: A grant from the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala for his journey to Lapland.

His Unique Way to Explore:

Just like Jesus' twelve Apostles, Linnaeus also designated his 17 more prominent Students as "The Apostles". These apostles explored the corners of the world for Linnaeus and became his eyes.

They collected many specimens for him and contributed to spreading the ideas of Linnaeus across the world. Most of them had lost their lives during the expedition but the successful ones have made a mark in the history of plant, animal and mineral classification and have contributed to the enrichment of our knowledge about the diversity of Nature.

Christopher Tarnstrom was the first one who started his journey (1746) to China to explore the nature for the Linnaeus, but he died during the voyage due to Tropical Fever.

In 1749, Pehr Kalm, another apostle moved to North America and returned with the Flora and Fauna of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Canada.

James Cook, joined by Joseph Banks on Endeavour (1768-71) and followed by Anders Sparrman on Resolution (1772-75) explored Oceania and South America.

Most of the successful apostle was Carl Peter Thunberg who returned one year after the death of Linnaeus after a long journey of nine years of exploration from South Africa to Japan. Some other apostles were Pehr Forsskal, Pehr Löfling, and Daniel Solander.

His system of Classification:

His idea was so new because he categorized plants based on the shared physical characteristics and not simply upon differences among them.

The modern system of organism classification have added "Phylum" between Kingdom and Class and "Family" between Order and Genera which were framed by Linnaeus as a System of Classification.

Books to disclose the plant Taxonomy:

Strickberger's "Evolution" 4th edition by Brian K. Hall and Benedikt Hollgrimsson.The Diversity and Evolution of Plants by Lorentz C. Pearson.

Conclusion:

He was lucky during his learning years and also in terms of the students he got who have put their lives on stakes for the expeditions when Linnaeus told them to do so. His Apostles have been his great success and pillar for the building his great volume of plant taxonomy. He has also been curious to know more and more about the world's Flora and Fauna and tried to discover the secrets of nature.