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Carolus Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist who claim to fame lays
in his development of the nomenclature still used today to name plants
and animals. For example humans are "Homo sapiens", we are of the
genus Homo and the species sapiens. Or the common periwinkle is
"Littorina littorea" - or "L. littorea", for short. This year is
the 300 anniversary of Linnaeus' birth. Why is it that Sweden is
in the midst of this great celebration? Well, in part because he is
Swedish. But what is it that he did - and should we care?
First off, lets look at the modern classification of some creature;
a common periwinkle for example;
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Superorder: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Sorbeoconcha |
| Suborder: | Hypsogastropoda |
| Infraorder: | Littorinimorpha |
| Superfamily: | Littorinoidea |
| Family: | Littorinidae |
| Genus: | Littorina |
| Species: | Littorina littorea | |
As a side note the name "Littorina littorea" was actually given
by Linnaeus himself in 1758! A great deal of the rest
of the classification has evolved in the
last quarter millennium since Linnaeus, but it really was his
invention and inspiration. It is true that he was not the first to try to
create a system like this. But his system had traction and caught
the imagination of his generation. People in his time saw a genius
in Linnaeus trying to bring order out of the chaos of thousands
up on thousands of species.
When he was a young man he explored Sweden, leading the first
scientific expedition to Lapland and various other corners of
the kingdom. He also visited the Netherlands, France and England,
and build contacts with the evolving international scientific
community. And people were impressed with his work and his
writing. I'm told that he was actually a pleasure to read.
People from around the
world started sending him planets and animals until his collection
became the standard collection by which all others were compared.
Was it genius - or was it his gift to communicate with the world
which made the center of this intellectual enterprise? Or a bit of both?
So is this 300 year celebration just the Swedish need for a
holiday/party or is there something more?
Well, I find a bit of evidence that he really
touched people's imagination even before this year.
In 1886 Stockholm put up a statue of Linnaeus in the Humlegĺrden,
the park right next to the Kungliga Bibliotek (Royal Library),
and leading out of that park is Linnégatan (Linné Street).
He is also on the 100 kroner bank note.
A word about his name might be in order. At the University
(original Lund and the Uppsala) he used the latinised name
"Carolus Linnaeus", following his father.
But later when the king raised him to nobility
he became, "Carl von Linné", the "von" indicates the rank of baron.
I find that in most of the world (ie. in the US where I first
encountered him, and from my father) he is called by his academic
name, the one he published under: Linnaeus. But in Sweden he is know
by his noble name: Linné.
So what is happening in 2007? First, you can of course check the
website: www.linne2007.se or www.linnaeus2007.se and you will see
that everybody but everybody has a special exhibit. Even the old
House of Nobles building (like the British Parliament - House of Lords)
on Gamla Stan has a exhibit,
because he was one of them. Skansen, the outdoor museum has
path through there grounds include quotes from his journals,
the Stockholm City Museum has an exhibit. The University of
Uppsala has special tours of his gardens.
In Uppsala there is even a "Linnébussen" run by the
local city bus system which connects various Linnaeus site.
The Postal Museum has an exhibit, and just about every botanical garden and
greenhouse in the city has something special. Even the city library
has had a number of different displays.
But wait - there is more. Most bookstores have their windows
filled with books which are some how related to him. And here,
I think, may be the real connection. The official poster proclaims
him as "Mr. Flower Power" (yes - in English). They do not call
him "Mr. Taxonomy", or "Mr. Binomial Nomenclature". The book which
sell are full of beautiful color photos of flowers,
and not his book "Systema Naturae".
So what about his system of organizing the world? "Deus creavit,
Linnaeus disposuit", ("God created, Linnaeus organized"), he
one time said, casting himself in a Adam-like
role. He wrote (I found this quote in "Hidden Worlds" - so it must
be right)
The first step of science is to know one thing from another.
This knowledge consists in their specific distinctions; but
in order that it may be fixed and permanent distinct names
must be recorded and remembered.
But names are well and good - however it is an organization
which is important.
An alternative arrangement of all of nature was the "Chain of
Beings", which started
with God, then Angles, then humans, worked through mammals
and off to lesser creatures. But it didn't quite work. The
full, modern taxonomy system works because it doesn't rank. It tells
us what is next to each other without putting everything in a
line. Linnaeus saw that things with similar physical characteristics
are in some sense similar -- and that is really what is important.
The idea of a tree structure is right -- because that is the way nature
really is.
So there is this ever branching "tree" organization. The world is divided
into three kingdoms (according to Linnaeus), Animal, Vegetable
and Mineral (see, when my Aunt taught me the game "20 Questions",
she was right), the kingdoms are subdivided, phylum. Each phylum
is broken in classes, then orders, families, genus and species.
("King Philip Came Over For Green Stamps" - as Mr. Kelly taught me)
And at the very tips of the branches -- the species which we
have today.
But the whole system is real because it also reflect evolution
(unknown to Linnaeus).
And this -- scientifically speaking -- is what is so tremendously
important and amazing about taxonomy. Taxonomy is not just a
stuffy old branch of science best know through taxidermist who
stuff animals for display. Two animals are in the same genus
because they are similar in history as well as having similar
physical traits. Two species which only share the same classes
split in evolutionary history a long time ago.
In a real sense Linnaeus had to come before Darwin!
So should we be celebrating Linnaeus this year? I think we should,
but from a scientific point of view what he gave us was organization,
not the pretty flowers he is pictured with.
He did liked flowers, and that is what has caught people's attention
today, but that wasn't really his contribution. However it is
really nice to see so much attention being focused on a scientist,
And I think us scientist should welcome the attention payed to
one of our own -- no matter what the reason.
|
Linnaeus
in Lapland |
Carl von Linné |
Systema Naturae |
God created
Linnaeus organized |
100 kronor |
Linnégatan |
statue in |
Humlegĺrden |
park |
flowers |
flowers |
Linnébussen |
Mr. Flower Power |
City Museum |
Postal Museum |
Skasen Ad
on the bus |
Uppsals U. Ad
on the bus |
Bookstore |
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