The life of the great systematizer of Nature, Carl Linnaeus, is similar to old Christmas stories, where the suffering of the poor little one is first described, and then everything ends with a touching ending. In addition, there were so many almost symbolic coincidences in his biography that it acquired the mystical flavor inherent in such stories.

He was born in 1707, in May, when the house smelled overwhelmingly of flowers. The aroma came from the nearby fields, and most importantly, from the parent’s garden. His father, a poor rural pastor, a descendant of local peasants, was probably still drawn to the land. When the Venerable Linnaeus was not serving God, he loved to tinker in his well-known garden under a spreading old linden tree. She was considered sacred, and the surname Linneus itself was taken in her honor. After all, linden in Swedish is “lind”. The honest pastor wished the same fate for his first-born, Karl. But everything turned out the other way around: flowers became the main thing for my son. True, God also received something, but from the meager remnants of time.

The charming and mysterious world of flowers bewitched the boy from the cradle. He stopped crying and calmed down when his mother put any stem in his hand. Family legend has preserved the story of how four-year-old Karl listened to the explanations of his gardener-father given to inquisitive neighbors. His eyes sparkled so much and his cheeks glowed so much that his mother considered her son ill. And then, when he studied at school in a neighboring town, he was invariably considered one of the most incapable, since his thoughts hovered far from the stuffy classroom. True, the grades in physics and mathematics were very good, but the basic subjects needed by the future pastor - Latin, Greek and Hebrew - were in a terrible state. Teachers who gave up on the careless Linneus, and classmates who did not understand his absurd hobby, called him nothing more than “nerd.” The irony of people gradually turned into the irony of fate.

But this happened many years later. In the meantime, there were only troubles. When my father came to the city to see a doctor and learn about Karl’s successes, he was amazed at the unanimous opinion of the teachers. They all advised taking his son out of the gymnasium and teaching him a craft. The upset pastor had already decided that Karl would earn his daily bread with wood and scissors. Why spend the last thalers when three more children are growing up in the family? But, by a happy coincidence, the doctor he went to see taught physics at the gymnasium. However, this is not so surprising, because at that time physics and medicine were one discipline.

Having learned that the patient had decided to send his son as an apprentice to a shoemaker, the doctor was horrified and firmly stated to the stunned pastor: “And I tell you, in spite of everything, that of all the students at the gymnasium, only Karl predicts a brilliant future.” The physician Rothman (his name should not be forgotten) not only dissuaded the pastor from his idea, but took the boy into his home, taught him himself, and even weakened his aversion to Latin by reading the works of Pliny the Elder on natural history. True, even during the years of Linnaeus’s glory, colleagues, listening to his Latin speech, said that “he is not Cicero.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, justifying his friend, objected: “Cicero was free not to know botany!”

Still, Carl Linnaeus graduated from high school, albeit with a curious characteristic that could give a modern adherent of the bureaucratic style a heart attack. “Youth in schools are like young trees in a nursery. It sometimes happens - although rarely - that the wild nature of a tree, despite any care, does not lend itself to cultivation. But when transplanted into another soil, the tree improves and bears good fruit. Only in this hope is the young man sent to university, where perhaps he will find himself in a climate favorable to his development.”

Returning home, Karl endured a serious battle with his parents, as a result of which two decisions were made. Firstly, never let his brother into the garden, so that he too does not go down the wrong path. Secondly, give Karl a letter of recommendation to a distant relative, the cathedral dean in the nearby university city of Lund. The first decision bore fruit, and Samuel Linneus eventually became a pastor in his native village. The second, alas, turned out to be fruitless. When a dusty pedestrian, dreaming of a student's bench, reached Lund, a funeral procession met him on the streets of the city. The dean of the cathedral was buried. Crushed by failure, the young man trudged behind “behind the coffin of his hopes,” as one of Linnaeus’ biographers writes. Since then, by his own admission, he could not stand the ringing of bells.

Returning home meant the complete collapse of his dream, and Karl wandered aimlessly around the city, where he had no shelter, no acquaintances, no chance of entering the university due to his devastating characteristics. But suddenly (oh, this is a word full of optimism!) he is faced with his school teacher, who became a philosophy teacher at the university. This teacher was probably not a very vindictive person, since he introduced Linnaeus to the rector as his student. And now, without unnecessary formalities, he was already enrolled as a student and was even assigned to stay for free with Professor Stobeus.

The professor's apartment is not only a miniature hostel, but also a small natural museum and a good library. True, books at that time were quite expensive, and therefore they were only given to especially trusted people to read. Alas, freshman Linneus is not one of them. However, using the knowledge of physiology acquired from Rothman, Karl gives consultations to one of those admitted to the book treasures, and in return receives volumes from the professor’s library for the night. And the days of a half-starved but happy existence flew by.

Soon the mistress of the house noticed the sparkle of fire in the guest's window. She decided that he forgot to blow out the candle in the evenings, and, fearing a fire, complained to the professor. Stobeus himself caught the tenant at the crime scene. Quietly opening the door, he was surprised to see the young man not in bed, but immersed in studying a volume from his own library. A sincere confession followed. “Come and see me in the morning,” said the professor, blowing out the candle. With his head bowed, Karl entered Stobeus's office. The professor was not without his shortcomings: lame, crooked, overly hot-tempered... But anger was not on this list. “Here, take this,” he said to the young man, handing him the keys to the library, “You need to sleep at night.” Noticing Karl's diligence, he began to invite him to his own table, took him on visits to patients, allowed him to answer letters from patients and write prescriptions. Everything turned out as well as possible; Stobeus even promised to subsequently transfer his clientele to Linnaeus. And yet the young student was increasingly reluctant to attend classes. Philologists and theologians here also looked down on doctors and botanists. The level of teaching of natural sciences was extremely low. Karl decides to leave the hospitable professorial home and move to the ancient Uppsala University, where the famous natural scientists Rudbeck and Roberg teach.

Everything starts all over again. Cardboard insoles are cut into holes in shoes. A smaller part of the money is spent on food, and a large part on books and candles; when things get really tight, you have to, as they say, save money on candles by reading by the city lamp. And life deals its merciless blows; the mother dies, the father becomes seriously ill; relatives keep writing and writing for him to fulfill his filial duty, return home, help put his sisters on their feet... Finally, the decision has been made. There is no more strength to endure the pangs of conscience and the pangs of hunger. Before leaving, collecting alms along the roads, back home, Karl stopped by to say goodbye to the botanical garden of the university. But, apparently, fate was preparing this man for the role intended for him, sending him help at critical moments. This time the role of providence was played by the doctor of theology Olaf Celsius.

A passionate amateur botanist, he decided to combine his main occupation and “hobby” by creating the work “Plants Mentioned in the Bible.” A chance meeting with a rare flower - and the conversation that immediately broke out like gunpowder, which happens when connoisseurs who are passionate about their work meet. Names poured in, drawn from the synonymy of the French botanist Tournefort, long Latin definitions, comparisons of carefully cherished herbariums...

Professor Celsius himself writes a letter to Charles's father. He sheltered the young man in his house, gave him private lessons, they roamed the fields together, looking for flowers and arranging them in albums according to the French system, confusing, complex, cumbersome... In the traditional message to his beloved professor, which was supposed to be written in poetic form, Linnaeus turns to prose: “I was not born a poet, but to some extent a botanist...” His reasoning about the sexual characteristics of plants, about methods of reproduction, about the possibility of constructing a classification on this basis extremely pleased Olaf Celsius. It is not known whether the venerable theologian published his biblical-botanical treatise, but, undoubtedly, it did not bring him fame. But the unpublished New Year's message of Linnaeus, where the outline of his remarkable system was first outlined, brought immortality to this good man.

The epistolary scientific work of the young scientist was also highly appreciated by Professor Rudbeck, who was introduced to it by Olaf Celsius. Karl Linneus becomes the professor's assistant, and sometimes even lectures for him. The young man's position became stronger. As a result, he had an envious enemy who haunted him for many years - Doctor of Sciences Nils Rosen, the teacher of the Rudbeck children, who was aiming for a professorship. But a friend also appeared - Peter Artesius, who was also interested in classification, but not of plants, but of fish. He is often considered the creator of ichthyology. Most likely, he became the first critic of the Linnaean system, strengthening Karl's confidence in his rightness.

Nils Rosen was not a stupid man; before many venerable professors, he appreciated the depth of thought and breadth of knowledge of the young scientist and therefore began to give him all sorts of slingshots. Taking advantage of the fact that Linnaeus did not have a scientific degree, and sometimes simply with the help of slander and slander, Rosen began to survive him from Uppsala.

First, Linnaeus goes on a difficult and dangerous expedition to Lapland, and travels around Dalecarlia, collecting plants and minerals. Yet, despite the value of the collections he collected and the originality of the reports he prepared, it became clear to him that without a doctorate his work would not be appreciated. But according to tradition, one should have defended oneself not in Sweden, for there is no prophet in one’s own fatherland, but in Holland. However, such a trip requires money, which, as always, is in short supply.

This time it was not friendship that helped, but love. The heart of the young scientist was captivated by the young beauty Sarah Lisa, the daughter of a doctor. Having received consent to the marriage, he asks his future father-in-law for a loan. The latter, although he was, as Linnaeus put it, “a gentle friend of money,” forked out for the sake of his daughter’s happiness.

And now Karl is on his way. The few works he published did not escape the attention of foreigners. They already know him. In Hamburg, the local burgomaster shows a young naturalist a rare curiosity - a hydra with seven heads. It was bought for a lot of money and was even described in scientific treatises. To the indignation of the gullible owner, Linnaeus exposed the clever charlatan fake. In the summer of 1735, a public debate took place in the city of Harderwick on the topic: “A new hypothesis about the cause of intermittent fever.” The happy doctor receives a silk hat and Golden ring- symbols of his scientific rank.

Scientific life in Holland seems to be simply in full swing compared to the Swedish outback. New friends, with their own money, publish Linnaeus’s “System of Nature,” which classifies three kingdoms: minerals, plants and animals. The book gained unprecedented popularity, gradually swelling, it a short time went through 13 editions.

Of particular importance is the classification flora according to the reproductive organ - the flower. Plants are divided into 24 classes, with the first 13 determined simply by the number of stamens in the flower, the next 7 classes determined by their location and length, followed by unisexual flowers, bisexual flowers and secretagogues. The ease of definition and brevity of the system are the captivating advantages of Linnaeus' classification. Of course, the author understood the primitiveness and inaccuracy of the division he proposed: cereals were scattered into different classes, trees coexisted with wildflowers. But hard trouble is the beginning. The main thing is the found principle: essential features as the basis for distinction. What is more important than the reproductive system in a flower? In any case, the Babylonian pandemonium, after which botanists ceased to understand each other, has now been eliminated. The task of classification was so acute that the famous naturalist of that time, Hermann Burgaw, generally defined botany as “the part of natural science through which plants are successfully and with the least difficulty recognized and retained in memory.”

The newly minted doctor, of course, wanted to meet Burgaw. But it wasn't that easy! Even the Russian Tsar Peter I waited for an appointment for several hours: the popular doctor and renowned naturalist was very busy. For several days Linnaeus hung around in the reception room of the Leiden celebrity, but was never granted an audience. However, after he sent his “System of Nature” to Boergaw, he immediately sent his carriage after him.

Linnaeus's Dutch period was both happy and fruitful. Burhaw introduced him to the burgomaster of Amsterdam, director of the East India Company, Clifford, who asked him to describe an amazing garden near Haarlem, full of exotic flowers and rare animals. The conscientious publication "Clifford's Garden" served as a model for naturalists for many years. Then “Fundament a Botanika”, “Critika Botanika” and “Genera planiarum” come out. For the last of these works, Linnaeus was elected to the Saxon Academy. How many more will there be, these academies that honored him with their membership: Paris, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Berlin...

It is curious that not only Linnaeus’s thoughts are original, but also his form. He compiled his book “Fundamentals of Botany” from 365 (according to the number of days in the year) aphorisms, dividing them, naturally, into 12 sections. In this book, which lists the main guiding ideas of Linnaeus, which, as the author himself writes, reflects 7 years of work and careful study of 8 thousand plants, he could not resist and also classified botanists.

It cannot be said that Linnaeus's system was enthusiastically accepted by everyone. Some did not want to relearn, others found it too speculative, and still others found it harmful. For example, Professor Johann Sigesbeck, invited from Germany to St. Petersburg, wrote a dissertation condemning Linnaeus’ system as immoral. After all, God would never allow such a vice in the plant kingdom that several men have a common wife. What can be demanded of Sigesbeck, whose first scientific memoir in Russia was devoted to refuting the book of Copernicus, if even after more than a hundred years one professor, giving a lecture on plant reproduction, removed the ladies from it. Linnaeus did not dignify Sigesbeck with an answer, but was deeply offended by him. After all, shortly before this, he christened one of the plants “Oriental Sigesbeckia” in his honor. One day, a German professor received from Linnaeus seeds with the inscription “Cuculus ingrains” - an ungrateful cuckoo. When he sowed them, the asteraceous plant “Sigesbekia orientalis” grew.

According to contemporaries, Carl Linnaeus was a cheerful person who appreciated a good joke and a sharp anecdote. According to him scientific works it is clear that he not only seriously studied Aristotle’s logic, from where many concepts and definitions were drawn, but also that his studies in the classics did not dry up his sense of humor. So, for example, one thorny plant he named it Pisonteia in honor of the critic Piso. And the family, the flower of which consisted of two long stamens and one short one, was christened Commelinaceae, in memory of the three Commelin brothers. Two of them became famous scientists, and the third achieved nothing.

Before returning to his homeland, Linnaeus decided to visit Paris. Here he meets Reaumur, Rousseau and the famous French florist Bernard Jussier. Linnaeus came to a colleague’s lecture and modestly sat in the back row. Raising above his head a recently received unknown flower from a distant continent, Jussier asked: “Who can tell where this plant comes from?” Everyone was silent, and the professor was about to answer himself when the voice of the guest was heard, giving the correct answer. “You are Linnaeus,” said Jussier, “for only he could do this.”

The triumphant march of the scientist who had become famous was interrupted after returning to his homeland. There was no work, no money. Linnaeus's fame had not yet reached his compatriots. Again, as in his youth, he is starving, trying to earn money through the art of medicine. But at first no one wanted to trust the doctor of science even to treat a dog. Slowly things got better. Linnaeus treated both for free and for lunch at a tavern, until he finally acquired a clientele. Money appeared, he began to be invited to the houses of the nobility and even to the royal palace. At this time, he wrote bitterly to a friend: “Aesculapius brings everything good, but the flora only brings Sigesbeks.”

Linnaeus even thought about parting with science, but this turned out to be beyond his strength. Several enthusiasts decided to create an academy of sciences. The position of president was drawn by lot on flowers. Carl Linnaeus was elected the first president of the Swedish Academy. His life had finally entered a cloudless phase. Every year his works were published, and students came to him from all European countries. He became the head of the department at his native Uppsala University and then its rector; received the Order of the Polar Star and nobility. Not only his position changed, but even his last name (Linneus began to be called in the noble manner of von Linne). But life principles The “kings of flowers” ​​remained the same. He worked with the same passion as in his youth, and believed that “no position can replace the position of an honest man.”

Linnaeus's will contained several clauses. All of them were fulfilled, except for one: do not send condolences. They came and went from academies, universities, departments, colleagues and students, saying goodbye to the great systematizer of Nature.

(1707-1778) Swedish biologist

Carl Linnaeus was born on May 23, 1707 in the small Swedish village of Roshult in the family of a rural priest.

The father tried to give his son a good education in the hope that Charles would also become a clergyman. But the boy was most attracted to Live nature. Primary school he graduated, but at the gymnasium he was never good at Latin and Greek languages. The teachers considered him an incapable child, although the boy showed an extraordinary interest in all kinds of plants.

The city doctor Rothman took Linnaeus into his home, studied with him a lot, and even weakened his aversion to Latin by reading the works of Pliny the Elder on natural history. Rotman turned out to be a good teacher. He got down to business so skillfully that Karl did not even notice how he fell in love with the very Latin that he had never wanted to hear about before.

After graduating from high school, Carl Linnaeus studied medicine and biology at the universities of the Swedish cities of Lund and Uppsala. The father could send his son only a small amount of money. But despite the hardships, the young man still collected a herbarium and tried to understand the whole variety of flowers, the number and arrangement of their stamens and pistils. Karl was only 23 years old when the famous Professor Rudbeck took him as his assistant. Carl Linnaeus becomes his assistant, and sometimes even lectures for him. In the spring of 1732, the leadership of Uppsala University invited him to travel to northern Scandinavia - Lapland - to explore its nature. Very little money was allocated for the expedition, but this did not bother the naturalist. Linnaeus traveled almost the entire north of Scandinavia, observed nature, studied it, and wrote it down. Upon returning from the expedition, he published his first book, “Flora of Lapland.”

After graduating from the university, Carl Linnaeus was going to stay here as a teacher, but this required a scientific degree, and Carl went to Holland.

The Dutch period of Linnaeus's life was both happy and fruitful. It was here that he received academic degree doctor, conducted scientific work for about a year in one of the best botanical gardens in the country.

In Holland in 1735, the Swedish scientist published his most famous work, “The System of Nature.” Despite its small volume - only 12 pages, his work was of epoch-making significance. In it, Carl Linnaeus proposed binary nomenclature - a system of scientific names for plants and animals. In his opinion, each name should have consisted of two words - a generic and a specific designation. A species consists of many similar individuals that produce fertile offspring. The scientist was convinced that species are eternal and cannot change. But already in his later works he noted some examples of the variability of organisms and the emergence of new species from old ones. Linnaeus gave names to species in Latin, the same Latin that was difficult for him during his school years. At that time, Latin was the international language of science. Thus, Linnaeus resolved a difficult problem: after all, if names were given to different languages, then the same species could be described under many names.

When characterizing a plant, Carl Linnaeus used a double name - generic and species. The name of the genus is common to all species belonging to it; the species name refers to plants of that species. For example, the genus name is currant, the species name is red, black, white, and the full names are red currant, etc. They based their classification of plants on the structure of the flower. Plants were divided into 24 classes by Carl Linn, with the first 13 determined simply by the number of stamens in the flower, the next 7 classes determined by their location and length. Fungi, lichens, algae - in general, everything devoid of flowers, according to his classification, turned out to be in the 24th class (“cryptogamy”). The ease of determining belonging to a particular class and the brevity of the system are the captivating advantages of Linnaeus' classification. Of course, he understood the primitiveness and inaccuracy of the division he proposed: cereals were distributed into different classes, trees were adjacent to wildflowers. And yet, the merit of the Swedish scientist was great, because he introduced clear and uniform rules for describing plants.

And in the classification of animals, Carl Linnaeus used a clear system (class - order - genus - variety), which, with some additions, is still used in our time. Linnaeus's division of the animal world into classes is based on the characteristics of the circulatory system. He identified only 6 classes: mammals, birds, amphibians, fish, insects and worms. Almost all invertebrates fall into the class of worms. Linnaeus correctly placed humans and apes in the same order on the basis of similarities in their structure, although such thoughts were then considered criminal. Of course, Linnaeus understood the artificiality of his system. “An artificial system,” he said, “serves only until a natural one is found; The first one teaches only to recognize plants, the second one teaches on the very nature of plants.”

A few years later, Carl Linnaeus returned to his homeland not only as a doctor, but also as a botanist with a European name, although at first life in his homeland turned out to be difficult. The young doctor did not yet have any patients, and his fame as a naturalist did not bring him money. Linnaeus was even planning to leave for Holland: in the country of flower growers he could get a good place like a nerd. And suddenly he was lucky: he managed to cure a patient who was considered hopeless. Medical fame suddenly came, and with it a large number of patients. But the young scientist wanted to do scientific work. In 1741, he became a professor at his native Uppsala University, and soon the first president of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Carl Linnaeus was awarded the title of nobility. He could deservedly be proud of himself, for everything that he became famous for was achieved by his own will and his own labor.

By this time, the entire scientific world knew Linnaeus. Among his students were Russians. He carried on extensive correspondence with many St. Petersburg botanists, received herbariums from Russia with descriptions of plants growing in different territories of the country, and in 1754 he was elected an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Linnaeus was an exceptionally efficient and hardworking person. Stingy, persistent in achieving his goals, he had an enterprising and lively character. A brilliant lecturer, he was popular among students.

All his life he supplemented and republished his works, which from small book gradually turned into a multi-volume publication.

After his death, the ancient books and herbariums of Carl Linnaeus are kept in the British Museum.

Carl Linnaeus (Swedish: Carl Linnaeus, 1707-1778) - an outstanding Swedish scientist, naturalist and physician, professor at Uppsala University. He laid down the principles of classification of nature, dividing it into three kingdoms. The merits of the great scientist were those left behind by him detailed descriptions plants and one of the most successful artificial classifications of plants and animals. He introduced the concept of taxa into science and proposed a method of binary nomenclature, and also built a system of the organic world based on the hierarchical principle.

Childhood and youth

Carl Linnaeus was born on May 23, 1707 in the Swedish city of Rossult in the family of a rural pastor, Nicholas Linneus. He was such a keen florist that he changed his previous surname Ingemarson to the Latinized version Linnaeus from the name of a huge linden tree (Lind in Swedish) that grew not far from his house. Despite the great desire of the parents to see their first-born as a priest, he youth attracted natural sciences, and especially botany.

When the son was two years old, the family moved to the neighboring town of Stenbrohult, but the future scientist studied in the town of Växjo - first at the local grammar school, and then at the gymnasium. The main subjects - ancient languages ​​and theology - were not easy for Charles. But the young man was passionate about mathematics and botany. For the sake of the latter, he often skipped classes in order to study plants in natural conditions. He also mastered Latin with great difficulty, and then only for the opportunity to read Pliny’s “Natural History” in the original. On the advice of Dr. Rothman, who taught logic and medicine to Karl, the parents decided to send their son to study as a doctor.

Studying at the University

In 1727, Linnaeus successfully passed the exams at Lund University. Here, he was most impressed by the lectures of Professor K. Stobeus, who helped to replenish and systematize Karl’s knowledge. During his first year of study, he meticulously studied the flora of the area around Lund and created a catalog of rare plants. However, Linnaeus did not study in Lund for long: on Rothman’s advice, he transferred to Uppsala University, which had a more medical focus. However, the level of teaching in both educational institutions was below the capabilities of Linnaeus’ student, so most For a time he was engaged in self-education. In 1730, he began teaching in the botanical garden as a demonstrator and had great success among his students.

However, there were still benefits from staying in Uppsala. Within the walls of the university, Linnaeus met Professor O. Celsius, who sometimes helped a poor student with money, and Professor W. Rudbeck Jr., on whose advice he went on a trip to Lapland. In addition, fate brought him together with student P. Artedi, with whom the natural history classification would be revised.

In 1732, Karl visited Lapland to study in detail the three kingdoms of nature - plants, animals and minerals. He also collected a large amount of ethnographic material, including about the life of the aborigines. As a result of the trip, Linnaeus wrote a brief review work, which was published in an expanded version in 1737 under the title “Flora Lapponica”. My research activities the aspiring scientist continued in 1734, when, at the invitation of the local governor, he went to Delecarlia. After that, he moved to Falun, where he was engaged in assaying and studying minerals.

Dutch period

In 1735, Linnaeus went to the shores of the North Sea as a candidate for a doctorate in medicine. This trip took place, among other things, at the insistence of his future father-in-law. Having defended his dissertation at the University of Harderwijk, Karl enthusiastically studied the natural science classrooms of Amsterdam, and then went to Leiden, where one of his fundamental works “Systema naturae” was published. In it, the author presented the distribution of plants into 24 classes, laying the basis for classification according to the number, size, location of stamens and pistils. Later, the work would be constantly updated, and 12 editions would be published during Linnaeus's lifetime.

The created system turned out to be very accessible even to non-professionals, allowing them to easily identify plants and animals. Its author was aware of his special purpose, calling himself the chosen one of the Creator, called upon to interpret his plans. In addition, in Holland he writes “Bibliotheca Botanica”, in which he systematizes literature on botany, “Genera plantraum” with a description of plant genera, “Classes plantraum” - a comparison various classifications plants with the author’s own system and a number of other works.

Homecoming

Returning to Sweden, Linnaeus began practicing medicine in Stockholm and quickly entered the royal court. The reason was the healing of several ladies-in-waiting with a decoction of yarrow. He widely used medicinal plants in his activities, in particular, he used strawberries to treat gout. The scientist made a lot of efforts to create the Royal Academy of Sciences (1739), became its first president and was awarded the title of “royal botanist”.

In 1742, Linnaeus fulfilled his old dream and became a professor of botany at his alma mater. Under him, the Department of Botany at Uppsala University (Karl headed it for more than 30 years) acquired enormous respect and authority. The Botanical Garden played an important role in his studies, where several thousand plants grew, collected literally from all over the world. “In the natural sciences, principles must be confirmed by observations.”, - said Linnaeus. At this time, real success and fame came to the scientist: Karl was admired by many outstanding contemporaries, including Rousseau. During the Age of Enlightenment, scientists like Linnaeus were all the rage.

Having settled on his estate Gammarba near Uppsala, Karl moved away from medical practice and plunged headlong into science. He managed to describe all the medicinal plants known at that time and study the effects of drugs produced from them on humans. In 1753, he published his main work, “The System of Plants,” on which he worked for a quarter of a century.

Linnaeus's scientific contributions

Linnaeus managed to correct the existing shortcomings of botany and zoology, whose mission had previously been reduced to a simple description of objects. The scientist forced everyone to take a fresh look at the goals of these sciences by classifying objects and developing a system for recognizing them. Linnaeus's main merit is related to the field of methodology - he did not discover new laws of nature, but he was able to organize the already accumulated knowledge. The scientist proposed a method of binary nomenclature, according to which names were assigned to animals and plants. He divided nature into three kingdoms and used four ranks to systematize it - classes, orders, species and genera.

Linnaeus classified all plants into 24 classes in accordance with the characteristics of their structure and identified their genus and species. In the second edition of the book "Species of Plants" he presented a description of 1260 genera and 7540 species of plants. The scientist was convinced that plants have sex and based the classification on the structural features of stamens and pistils he highlighted. When using the names of plants and animals, it was necessary to use the generic and species names. This approach put an end to the chaos in the classification of flora and fauna, and over time became an important tool for determining the relationship of individual species. To make the new nomenclature easy to use and not cause ambiguity, the author described each species in detail, introducing precise terminological language into science, which he outlined in detail in the work “Fundamental Botany.”

At the end of his life, Linnaeus tried to apply his principle of systematization to all of nature, including rocks and minerals. He was the first to classify humans and monkeys as members of the general group of primates. At the same time, the Swedish scientist was never a supporter of the evolutionary direction and believed that the first organisms were created in a certain paradise. He sharply criticized proponents of the idea of ​​species variability, calling it a departure from biblical traditions. “Nature does not make a leap,” the scientist repeated more than once.

In 1761, after four years of waiting, Linnaeus received a title of nobility. This allowed him to slightly modify his surname in the French manner (von Linne) and create his own coat of arms, the central elements of which were three symbols of the kingdoms of nature. Linnaeus came up with the idea of ​​​​making a thermometer, for the creation of which he used the Celsius scale. For his numerous merits, in 1762 the scientist was admitted to the ranks of the Paris Academy of Sciences.

IN last years Throughout his life, Karl was seriously ill and suffered several strokes. He died in his own home in Uppsala on January 10, 1778 and was buried in the local cathedral.

The scientist's scientific heritage was presented in the form of a huge collection, including a collection of shells, minerals and insects, two herbariums and a huge library. Despite the family disputes that arose, it went to Linnaeus’s eldest son and his full namesake, who continued his father’s work and did everything to preserve this collection. After his premature death, she came to the English naturalist John Smith, who founded the Linnean Society of London in the British capital.

Personal life

The scientist was married to Sarah Lisa Morena, whom he met in 1734, the daughter of the city doctor of Falun. The romance proceeded very stormily, and two weeks later Karl decided to propose to her. In the spring of 1735, they rather modestly became engaged, after which Karl went to Holland to defend his dissertation. Due to various circumstances, their wedding took place only 4 years later in the family farm of the bride’s family. Linnaeus became the father of many children: he had two sons and five daughters, two of whom died in infancy. In honor of his wife and father-in-law, the scientist named Moraea a genus of perennial plants from the Iris family, growing in South Africa.

Carl Linnaeus - Swedish naturalist, famous for, that he created a system of binomial (consisting of two words) names describing living beings, and developed their harmonious classification.
He was born on May 23, 1707 in the Swedish village of Roshult, the eldest of five children of Nils and Christina Linnaeus. Two years after his birth, his father became a minister in the city of Stenbruhult and the family moved there. Niels Linnaeus was fond of gardening and passed on his passion to his son: already at the age of five the boy had his own garden, and he took care of it with pleasure.
Interested in biology and medicine, in 1727 Linnaeus became a student at Lund University. But it turned out that these sciences were taught there rather poorly, and a year later the young man transferred to Uppsala University, one of best universities Sweden. There he attracted the interest of Olof Celsius, a professor of theology who shared and supported his love of plants. Thanks to his patronage and favor, the young scientist received free room and board in his house, as well as access to an extensive library.
Despite financial difficulties, Linnaeus found the opportunity to organize botanical and ethnographic expeditions to Lapland (in 1731) and central Sweden (in 1734).
In 1735, the scientist went to Holland, where he completed his medical education at the University of Harderwijk, and then entered the University of Leiden. In the same year he published his first work on the classification of living beings. During these years, he actively met and corresponded with many European botanists, continuing to develop his classification system.
In 1739, Linnaeus married Sarah Moray, the daughter of a doctor. In the same year, he became the “royal botanist” and one of the founders of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He soon received the chair of medicine at Uppsala University, subsequently changing it to the chair of botany. He continued to work on a classification system, extending it to both the animal and mineral kingdoms.
In addition, he practiced medicine, specializing in the treatment of syphilis, and gave lectures in Stockholm, made three more expeditions to various parts of Sweden, and worked on the acclimatization of valuable plants.
In 1741, Linnaeus was awarded the academic title of professor at Uppsala University. In addition to classes with students (which were very popular), he restored the University Botanical Garden, which was almost destroyed by fire. Now a collection of rare plants from all over the world was grown here, and it was constantly replenished by the scientist’s traveling students. Linnaeus still found time to practice medicine, and eventually became the personal physician to the Swedish royal family. In 1757 he was granted the nobility (and was finally confirmed in it in 1762). Soon afterwards he bought the estate of Hammarby, in Uppsala, where he built a small museum to house his extensive personal collection.

Linnaeus died in 1778. His son, also named Karl, who also became a professor at Uppsala, died five years later. Finding no other worthy heirs, his mother and sisters sold Linnaeus's extensive library of manuscripts and collections to the English naturalist Sir James Edward Smith, who created the Linnean Society of London.

Throughout his life, Linnaeus deeply loved nature and never ceased to be amazed at its wonders. His religious beliefs led him to the philosophy of natural theology, which states that since God created the world, one can better understand the wisdom of God by studying his creation. Hierarchical classification and binomial nomenclature, invented by Linnaeus and revised by his followers, have remained the standard for more than two centuries. His works made botany one of the most popular sciences of the time, inspiring many scientists and naturalists, including Charles Darwin.

Linnaeus Karl (1707-1778), Swedish naturalist who created a system for classifying flora and fauna.

Born on May 23, 1707 in the city of Rosshuld (Sweden) in the family of a pastor. From his father, young Karl inherited a passion for botany.

Having studied natural and medical sciences at Lund (1727) and Uppsala (since 1728) universities, Linnaeus in 1732 traveled through Lapland (a natural area in northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the western Kola Peninsula). The result was the work “Flora of Lapland” (1732; complete edition 1737).

In 1735, the scientist moved to the city of Hartekamp (Netherlands), where he received the position of head of the botanical garden; defended doctoral dissertation on the topic “New hypothesis of intermittent fevers.”

From 1738 he practiced medicine in Stockholm; in 1739 he headed the naval hospital and won the right to autopsy corpses in order to determine the cause of death. He participated in the creation of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and became its first president (1739).

From 1741 he headed the department at Uppsala University, where he taught medicine and natural science.

Linnaeus's most significant work is System of Nature. The book was first published in 1735 and went through 12 editions during the author’s lifetime. It was in this work that Linnaeus applied and introduced the so-called binary nomenclature, according to which each species is designated by two Latin names - generic and specific.

The scientist defined the concept of species using both morphological (similarity within the offspring of the same family) and physiological (presence of fertile offspring) criteria.

He established a clear gradation of systematic categories: class, order, genus, species, variation. Linnaeus based his classification of plants on the number, size and location of the stamens and pistils of a flower, as well as the sign that the plant is mono-, bi- or polyecious. He believed that the reproductive organs are the most essential and permanent parts of the body in plants. Based on this principle, the scientist divided all plants into 24 classes.

Linnaeus discovered and described about 1,500 plant species. The classification of the animal world he proposed subsequently underwent significant changes thanks to new discoveries in the field of biology, but was revolutionary for its time. Her distinguishing feature- in the fact that man is included in the system of the animal kingdom and belongs to the class of mammals, the order of primates. The dual nomenclature system proposed by Linnaeus is still in use today.