Sweden fetes Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2007

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — "God created, but Linnaeus organised": those are the words of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus himself, the celebrated scientist who developed the modern classification of nature and who was born 300 years ago.

To celebrate the tricentenary of Linnaeus' birth on May 23, 1707, festivities, exhibits, conferences and floral events will be organised in Sweden and around the world this week.

In his groundbreaking book Systema Naturae, published in 1735, Linnaeus, also known as Carl von Linne, the name he was given after he was knighted by the Swedish king in 1757, classified the animal, plant and mineral worlds, defining each species by a double name in Latin.

Under this binomial nomenclature, the first name referred to the genus and the second a...