In characterizing the scientific activity of Linnaeus, at the very biography, all his main works on botany were described in some detail, and each of them was characterized separately. Very little was said about the work of Linnaeus in the field of zoology, mineralogy and medicine.

The significance of the works of Linnaeus can be more clearly understood when considering them in connection with the general state of natural science at the beginning of his scientific activity.

Before turning to this question, it would be appropriate to get acquainted with Linnaeus' own assessment of his own activities, following the example of how this was done when considering his individual works. Of exceptional interest in this regard is the chapter "Linnaei merita et inventa" published by Afzelius in his autobiography. Here we present the translation of this chapter.

Merits and discoveries of Linnaeus

He built botany from the ground up on a site that was previously in ruins, so that we can assume that since his time this science has received a completely different look and the beginning of a new era.

1. He designated in exact terms, first of all, the leaves of plants, thanks to which all descriptions of plants received a new look and illumination.
2. He was the first to possess the Prolepsin Plantarum, the rarest discovery in nature, in which traces of the Creator himself appear.

1. He considered in a new way the Transformations (changes) of plants and by this he proved the basis of reproduction.
2. He brought to light the sex of plants, which had been questioned, and showed the effect of pollen on the moisture of the stigma.
3. He built the reproductive system as a result of innumerable observations of stamens and pistils in all plants, which had been neglected until that time.
4. He first introduced into botany many parts of reproduction under their own names, such as calyx, perianth, involucre, scales, wing, etc. Corolla and nectaries, anthers, ovary, style, stigma, pod and bean, drupe and receptacle, besides many words, also Stipule and Bract, Arrow, Pedicel and Petiole.
5. He described anew, in accordance with the number, shape, position and proportion of all parts of the fruiting, Childbirth, which was thought that they could not be accurately determined - and they became recognized; he discovered twice as many genera as were found by all authors before him.
6. He for the first time delimited the species of plants by fundamental differences and also identified most of the Indian ones.
7. He introduced for the first time into all natural science simple names, to his clarity and brevity.
8. The varieties that flooded botany he reduced to their species.
9. Plant habitats (Loca plantarum) he added to species as a rationale for plant culture.
10. He explored plant habitats (Stationes plantarum) as a basis for agriculture.
11. He first developed the Flora Calendar as a guiding thread for all activities in agriculture and from the Blooming of the Trees he showed the time of sowing.
12. He first saw and described the Flora Clock.
13. He first discovered the dream of plants.
14. He ventured to speak of plant hybrids and gave posterity indications of the Cause [of the emergence] of species (Specierum causam).
15. He set up Pan suecicus and Pandora suecica as works that should be continued by all sections of the people, since before they did not know how to properly manage the economy. (These names designate Linnaeus's extensive work on the study of fodder plants in Sweden.)
16. He understood better than anyone before him the generation of minerals and showed that crystals arise from salts and that hard stones come from soft (rocks), confirmed the decrease of water and proved the 4 Uplifts of the land, not to mention that he first substantiated the true method in the mineral kingdom.
17. He alone discovered animals more than all before him, and he was the very first to give their generic and specific characteristics by the natural method. He should be credited with the knowledge of insects and their characters, not to mention the fact that he was the first to find an artificial method for recognizing fish by their fins, molluscs by their shells, and snakes by their scutes. He classified whales as mammals, naked reptiles as amphibians, and separated worms from insects.
18. He showed in physiology the living nature of the medullary (core) substance, infinite in reproduction and multiplication; that it can never be reproduced in offspring, except as belonging to the mother organism; that what is produced according to the appearance of the body belongs to the father, and according to the medullary system belongs to the mother; how complex animals (Animalia composita) should be understood; and the brain is obtained from electrical influences perceived through the lungs.
19. In pathology, he gave the most distinct Signs of diseases based on the principles of Sauvage, but greatly improved; he awakened the idea of ​​glandular infarction as the cause of painful deaths; he was the first to clearly see that Fever comes from an internal disease spread by colds and contracted by warmth, and he proved the contagiousness of living skin flakes. He was the first to correctly recognize tapeworms.
20. He first introduced Dulcamara, Herb. into practice with Swedish doctors. Brittanica, Senega, Spigelia, Cynomorium, Conyza, Linnaea.
21. For the first time he showed the properties of plants, substantiated by this the active principles of therapeutic agents, which until then were mysterious, showed their mode of action and refuted the notions of toxicity among practitioners.
22. He presented the diet according to his own method, based on observation and experience, and gave it the form of experimental physics.
23. He never neglected the economic use of plants, but collected [information about this] with the greatest attention to species, which earlier naturalists had only rarely taken into account.
24. He discovered the Organization of Nature (Politia Naturae) or Divine economy, and opened the way for posterity to an immeasurable new area.
25. He put Fauna in the first place for science and was the first to explore the naturalities of the northern regions of Scandinavia down to the smallest; not to mention the fact that he founded the first and largest Botanical Garden here in the country, which before him was not even worthy of mention, and that he founded the first museum of animals in wine spirit here.

During the 16th and 17th centuries scientific botany and zoology consisted most of all in a simple acquaintance with living organisms and describing them, listing them in one order or another. To the actual knowledge of plants and animals that inhabited European countries, more and more overseas ones were added over time. This increasing variety of living organisms, covered by the science of that time, contributed greatly to the accumulation of factual knowledge of them and made it more and more difficult to review them in the course of time.

At the beginning of the XVII century. Swiss botanist Kaspar Baugin published a collection (Pinax theatri botanici, 1623) of all the then known plants, the total number of which was about six thousand. This work was of very great scientific importance in its time, since it summed up everything that had previously been done in acquaintance with plants. It should be noted, however, that in our time this book is little understood for us, despite the fact that the actual knowledge of plants has increased immeasurably over these centuries. Its low accessibility to readers of our time is due to the fact that the descriptions of plants here are very often so inaccurate and inconsistent that it is often impossible to imagine the plant in question from them. At the same time, the verbosity of the descriptions by no means makes it easier for the reader to draw up a clearer idea of ​​the plant being described. The verbose names of plants that cannot be remembered can also only in rare cases be understood.

It was very difficult for their contemporaries to use this book and similar writings of that time, precisely because of the inaccuracy of the description of plant organs, the vagueness of descriptive terms, the lack of commonly understood names of plants, etc. One can imagine the difficulties of botanists of the 17th century who would like to compare plants, taken in nature, with descriptions of them in these writings.

The plant, not recognized by such a code, was again described by other authors and, of course, also inexpressively and received a new cumbersome name. Thus, subsequent readers were placed in an even more difficult position due to the terminological vagueness and heterogeneity of the authors. The number of such descriptions increased over time and the heap of descriptive materials became more and more chaotic.

The difficulties that confronted naturalists in this connection were further increased by the fact that this multitude of indistinctly characterized forms was very badly classified. The need for classification was at that time really an extreme necessity, since without it there was no possibility of reviewing the descriptive material. It must be said that the need to classify organisms at the level of science of that time was a purely logical necessity for the formal ordering of the studied forms. The latter only in this way could be placed in a certain framework, allowing their review.

There is no need to recall here the classifications of plants that have succeeded one another over time. They were, of course, gradually improved, but they were very far from perfect, primarily because of the insufficient clarity of their very basis and the fact that they could only be applied to high categories. The fructicists, calicists, or corollists were equally mistaken and fell into equal difficulties, primarily because they did not have a sufficiently clear idea of ​​​​the features of the plant organs on which their classifications were based, i.e., respectively, on the fruits, calyxes or corollas of flowers.

At the very end of the XVII century. and in the early years of the eighteenth century. some progress has been made in the practical delineation of plant genera (Tournefort) and in the attempt to identify species (John Ray). Both were determined by the same logical necessity.

In this regard, the general situation in science improved, but not much, since the accumulation of descriptive material completely suppressed science, and the material itself often did not fit into the classification framework. The situation in natural science became completely critical, and it already seemed that there was absolutely no way out.

Some reflection of this position may be the definition of botany we mentioned, given by the famous Leiden professor Boerhaave. He said: "Botany is a part of natural science, through which plants are successfully and with the least difficulty known and kept in memory."

From this definition, both the tasks facing botany of that time and the catastrophic state of terminology and nomenclature in it are completely clear. In fact, zoology was in the same position.

Linnaeus, perhaps more profoundly than Boerhaave, realized all this while still a student at Uppsala and set out to reform natural science.

We have already said that Linnaeus proceeded from the fact that "the basis of botany is the division and naming of plants", that "Ariadne's thread of botany is a classification, without which chaos", and "natural science itself is the division and naming of natural bodies".

But before proceeding with the classification itself, a very large amount of preparatory work had to be done, which, as has been said, he did brilliantly. This work is a terminological reform and the creation of a universal classification scheme.

In the Fundamentals of Botany, an exact, very expressive and simple terminology was developed, and in the System of Nature and in the Classes of Plants, a comprehensive sexual classification system amazing in elegance and simplicity. The completion of these works brought extremely rapid success. Strictly thought-out terminology and a simple classification scheme made it possible, with previously unknown expressiveness, to outline about a thousand genera ("Genera plantarum") and to give unprecedented clarity characteristics of many hundreds of species ("Hortus Cliffortianus", "Flora Lapponica"). In these works, as it was said earlier, the binomial nomenclature of polynomials was brought to perfection, precisely in connection with the fact that the category “genus” was defined.

The works of this period (1735-1738) completed most of the reform work of Linnaeus, but only the first stage was reached with respect to the nomenclature.

As a result of further work, by 1753, Linnaeus was able to "stretch Ariadnin's thread of taxonomists" to species, outlined this classification category with certainty, and in "Species plantarum" proposed in connection with this a new nomenclature technique - simple names that became the basis of modern binomial nomenclature . We have already spoken about all this in sufficient detail. Here it is appropriate to recall only that the methodological basis of this work was the principles of Aristotelian logic concerning concepts, their classification, division, etc.

Linnaeus quite rightly ascribes to himself the creation of botany on the site of the chaos that was before him.

We have seen that he developed a terminology and a precise diagnostic language, he proposed a strict nomenclature, he developed a comprehensive and practically very convenient classification. Based on all this, he revised a huge amount of factual material previously accumulated by science. Having selected all the reliable and discarded the erroneous and doubtful, he systematized the previously obtained information, that is, made it scientific.

It is appropriate to say here that some researchers, when evaluating Linnaeus' activities, often say that he only "summed up the past, and did not outline the future", or, which is the same, "wrote an epilogue, not a prologue."

Before objecting to this, it should be pointed out that it is necessary to take into account the fact that Linnaeus's reforming activity contributed to the progress of research work and the accumulation of factual knowledge of organisms to an exceptional extent. Suffice it to say that in the half century that has elapsed since the publication of the most important works of Linnaeus on botany (1753) and zoology (1758), the number of reliably known organisms has more than increased tenfold.

When they say that Linnaeus did not outline the future, but only summed up the past, they usually mean that he developed only an artificial system of plants and did very little for the natural system. Linnaeus understood, as was said earlier, the need for a natural method and for his time did a lot in this regard. However, it must be said that in our time the natural method is understood to mean the natural, or phylogenetic, system, completely forgetting at the same time that the natural method in the 18th century. is nothing more than establishing the similarities of organisms and grouping them according to this principle. Then it was precisely the similarity that was meant, and by no means kinship in the sense of a common origin. The fact is that the idea of ​​development was not yet known at that time. Flashing in Kant's Theory of the Sky (1755), only half a century later it became the basis of cosmogony (the Kant-Laplace hypothesis). It took another half a century for it to manifest itself in all its grandeur in application to living nature in Darwin's evolutionary teaching.

Natural method of Linnaeus and natural classifications of later authors of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. essentially did not differ. Their task is to establish the similarities of organisms in order to comprehend the creative plan of the "creator", expressed in the natural order of nature.

The desire to find in the writings of Linnaeus the beginning of the evolutionary idea is also unfounded, as well as reproaches against him for not being an evolutionist.

One should, of course, pay close attention to § 16 of the list of his discoveries, from which we learn about Linnaeus's deep interest in the question of the origin of species and his understanding of the extreme importance of this issue. A little later, in the thirteenth edition of Systema Naturae (1774), Linnaeus wrote the following: there are natural detachments. That he himself then mixed these plants of the orders so much with each other by crossing that as many plants appeared as there are various distinct genera. That then Nature mixed these generic plants, by means of changeable generations, but without changing flower structures, among themselves and multiplied into existing species, all that is possible, hybrids should be excluded from this number of generations - because they are barren.

We see that the creative role of the "creator" is now limited. He created, it turns out, only representatives of the orders (of which there were 116), which formed genera by hybrid mixing, and the latter, by hybridization, without the participation of the "creator", were propagated by nature itself into existing species. It is appropriate to recall that forty years earlier Linnaeus wrote: "We count as many species as there are different forms that were first created."

It is also known, on the basis of the work of Linnaeus's student, Gieseke, who expounded the views of his teacher on the question of signs of natural orders, that Linnaeus dealt with these issues until old age. He told Gieseka: "I have worked for a long time on the natural method, I have done what I could achieve, there is still more to do, I will continue this as long as I live."

The doctrine of the field in plants, strict organography, clear terminology, the development of the reproductive system, the reform of nomenclature, the description of about one thousand two hundred genera of plants and the establishment of more than eight thousand species constitute the most important part of Linnaeus's botanical work, but not the only one, as can be seen from his list.

He was widely involved in plant biology (Flora Calendar, Flora Clock, Plant Sleep) and many practical issues, of which he emphasized the study of fodder plants in Sweden. How broad were his scientific interests, can be seen from the ten-volume collection of dissertations of his students ("Amoenitates Academicae"). Of the ninety botanical dissertations, almost half are represented by floristic-systematic topics; about a quarter is devoted to medicinal, food and economic plants; about a dozen relate to topics on plant morphology; several dissertations develop different questions of plant biology; separate topics are devoted to plant habitats, botanical bibliography, terminology, scientific horticulture, and one dissertation to a topic that has recently been extremely topical in our country - the rebirth of cereals.

The significance of Linnaeus' work as a zoologist is almost as great as that of botanics, although he was most of all a botanist. His fundamental zoological works belong to the same Dutch period of activity and are especially connected with the composition of Systema Naturae. Although the classification of animals developed by him was in significant parts more natural than the botanical one, it had less success and existed for a shorter time. We have said before that the particular success of the botanical classification was due to the fact that it was at the same time an extremely simple determinant. Linnaeus divided the animal kingdom into six classes: mammals, birds, reptiles (now reptiles and amphibians), fish, insects (now arthropods) and worms (many invertebrates, including worms).

A great classification achievement for that time was the exact definition of the class of mammals and the assignment to it in connection with this of whales, which even the father of ichthyology, Artedi, belonged to fish.

It seems surprising in our time that already in the first edition of Systema Naturae (1735) Linnaeus places man among the anthropoids.

The very first edition of the "System of Nature" gave impetus to the development of systematic zoology, since the classification scheme presented here and the developed terminology and nomenclature facilitated descriptive work.

Increasing from edition to edition, this section of "Systems of Nature" reached 823 pages in the tenth edition, published in 1758 and remarkable in that it consistently carried out the binomial nomenclature of organisms, in connection with which it is this edition that is the starting point in modern zoological nomenclature.

Linnaeus worked especially hard on the classification of insects, and he described most of the genera and about two thousand species (twelfth edition 1766-1768). He also developed the basics of organography, and in a special essay, The Foundation of Entomology (1767), the structure of the body of this class of animals was outlined. In parallel with the Flora of Sweden, Linnaeus wrote The Fauna of Sweden, the significance of which for faunistics was the same as the edition of his Flora had for floristic works. Subsequent writings on fauna were written on the model of how Linnaeus did it in The Fauna of Sweden.

Engaged in assay art as applied mineralogy, prospecting for minerals, studying mineral springs, caves, mines, studying crystals and classifying stones - lithology, Linnaeus was not only quite up to the level of his time in matters related to this, but also advanced the development of some of them a lot. . Geologists believe that if he had not written anything other than paleontology and geology, his name would already have been glorified.

In the Museum Tessinianum, among other things, trilobites were described, which marked the beginning of the study of this group of fossil crustaceans, and in a special work "On the Baltic Corals" he described and depicted the corals of the Baltic Sea.

In connection with the study of both, he correctly understood the significance of fossils for establishing the distant past of the land, as he correctly assessed the significance of the last sea terraces for a more recent time. From his descriptions of outcrops, with their alternating layers, it can be seen that he was deeply interested in the formation of sedimentary rocks (The System of Nature, 1768). In addition to the classification of minerals, he also gave a classification of crystals; the collection of the latter in his museum amounted to one and a half hundred natural specimens.

A doctor by training and at the beginning of his practice, Linnaeus was extremely popular in Stockholm as a practicing physician in the years 1739-1741, being at the same time the head of the Admiralty Hospital. With the move to Uppsala, he almost left the practice of medicine. As a professor who taught three medical courses, he was extremely popular. These courses are "Materia medica" ("The Doctrine of Medicinal Substances"), "Semiotica" ("Semiologia" - "The Doctrine of the Signs of Diseases") and "Diaeta naturalis" ("The Doctrine of Nutrition").

In connection with reading these courses, Linnaeus wrote detailed study guides. The "Materia medica" has been discussed in detail earlier, and here it suffices to recall that this work by Linnaeus (1749) has become a classic guide to pharmacology.

Genera Morborum (Generations of Diseases, 1759) is a classification of diseases according to their symptoms. The basis of the classification was borrowed by Linnaeus from the work of the French physician and naturalist Sauvage, somewhat revised and expanded. In total, eleven classes of diseases have been established here. The purpose of this book is to provide guidance for recognizing diseases by their outward manifestation.

In the book Clavis Medicinae duplex (Double Key to Medicine, 1766), which Linnaeus highly valued, a summary of his lectures and data on general pathology and therapy are presented.

Linnaeus's lectures on dietetics were especially successful, and this course itself was perhaps his favorite. Started by him back in 1734, in the form of draft notes, it has been supplemented and expanded more and more for decades. These lectures were not published during Linnaeus's lifetime. The success of the course among students may also be due to the fact that, in addition to expounding the rules of therapeutic nutrition and everything related to this, the professor reported a lot of sanitary and hygienic information, advice and purely practical instructions regarding Everyday life, etc.

Linnaeus' personal merit in practical medicine was the introduction into medical practice of certain herbal remedies, partly preserved in the modern pharmacopoeia, as well as the development of a method for combating tapeworms.

Speaking about the significance of Linnaeus's activity as a physician, one cannot fail to point out what is usually associated with his name - the beginning of the study of animal diseases. Linnaeus paid some attention to this even during the Lapland trip, being interested in damage to the skin of deer. One of his students later became the first veterinarian in Sweden.

In conclusion, it should be said that Linnaeus, with his reforms and organizing influence, determined the development of the main trends in botany and zoology for decades.

Carl Linnaeus

Karl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish naturalist, creator of the system of flora and fauna, the first president of the Swedish Academy of Sciences (since 1739), foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1754). For the first time he consistently applied binary nomenclature and built the most successful artificial classification of plants and animals, described approx. 1500 plant species. He advocated the permanence of species and creationism. Author of "The System of Nature" (1735), "Philosophy of Botany" (1751), etc.

Linnaeus Carl (1707-78) - Swedish naturalist, formulated the foundations of plant systematics, the creation of which is his main scientific merit. Despite the fact that this system was artificial, the binomial naming principle introduced by Linnaeus retained its significance and became generally accepted. Being a supporter creationism, Linnaeus also suggested a hybrid origin of some forms and allowed limited variability of species under the influence of the conditions of their existence.

Philosophical Dictionary. Ed. I.T. Frolova. M., 1991, p. 222.

Linnaeus (Linne, Linnaeus), Karl (1707-1778) - Swedish naturalist and naturalist. Born in Roskhult. Educated at Uppsala University. From 1741 until the end of his life he taught a number of biological and medical disciplines and headed the department at this university. Botany was at the center of Linnaeus's scientific interests, but he was engaged in a wide range of natural sciences - zoology, mining and mineralogy, medicine, etc. Linnaeus's main merit was the creation of systems for classifying plants and animals. The first presentation of it is presented by Linnaeus in the book "The System of Nature".

Philosophical Dictionary / ed.-comp. S. Ya. Podoprigora, A. S. Podoprigora. - Ed. 2nd, sr. - Rostov n / a: Phoenix, 2013, p. 193.

famous naturalist

Carl Linnaeus, the famous naturalist, was born in Sweden, in the village of Rozgult, on May 13, 1707. He was of an humble family, his ancestors were simple peasants; father, Nile Linneus, was a village priest. My father was a great lover of flowers and gardening; in the picturesque Stenbroghult he planted a garden, which soon became the first in the whole province. This garden and his father's studies, of course, played a significant role in the spiritual development of the future founder of scientific botany. The boy was given a special corner in the garden, several beds, where he was considered a complete master; they were called so - "Karl's garden".

When the boy was ten years old, he was sent to an elementary school in the town of Vexie.

After graduating from high school, Karl enters Lund University, but soon moves from there to one of the most prestigious universities in Sweden - Uppsala.

June 24, 1735 at the university campus of Garderwick, in Holland Linnaeus passed the exam and defended a dissertation on a medical topic - about fever, which he wrote back in Sweden. At the same time, Linnaeus compiled and printed the first draft of his work, which laid the foundation for systematic zoology. This was the first edition of his Systema naturae. In his new works, published in 1736-1737, his main and most fruitful ideas were already contained in a more or less finished form: a system of generic and specific names, improved terminology, an artificial system of the plant kingdom.

At this time, he received an offer to become the personal physician of George Cliffort with a salary of 1000 guilders and a full allowance. Clifffort was one of the directors of the East India Company and mayor of Amsterdam. He was an avid gardener and botanist. In his estate there was a garden famous in Holland, in which he cultivated and acclimatized plants from Southern Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.

In 1739, the Swedish Diet assigned him one hundred ducats of annual maintenance with the obligation to teach botany and mineralogy. At the same time, he was given the title of "royal botanist". Linnaeus took part in the founding of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences and was its first president. In 1742, Linnaeus became professor of botany at his native university. The scientist bought himself a small estate near Uppsala Gammarba, where he spent the summer in the last 15 years of his life. He described all medicinal plants known at that time and studied the effect of medicines made from them. It was at this time that he invented the thermometer, using the Celsius temperature scale.

The main work "The System of Plants" took as much as 25 years, and only in 1753 did Linnaeus publish his main work.

At the time when Linnaeus began his work, zoology was in a period of exceptional predominance of systematics. The task that she then set herself was to get acquainted with all the breeds of animals living on the globe, without regard to their internal structure and to the connection of individual forms with each other. The descriptions that the author gave of new animals or plants were usually inaccurate. The second main shortcoming of the then science was the lack of classification.

The scientist proposed a binary nomenclature - a system of scientific naming of plants and animals. Based on the structural features, he divided all plants into 24 classes, also highlighting separate genera and species. Each name had to consist of two words - generic and specific designations.

Linnaeus was the first to introduce a strictly defined, precise language and a precise definition of features into science. In his work "Fundamental Botany", published in Amsterdam during his life with Cliffort and which was the result of seven years of work, the foundations of the botanical terminology that he used in describing plants are outlined.

Later, Linnaeus applied his principle to the classification of all nature, in particular, minerals and rocks. He also became the first scientist to classify humans and apes as the same group of animals, the primates. As a result of his observations, the naturalist compiled another book - "The System of Nature".

The last years of Linnaeus's life were overshadowed by senility and illness. He died on January 10, 1778, at the age of seventy-one.

Used materials from the site http://100top.ru/encyclopedia/

Swedish naturalist

LINNEUS, CARL (Linnaeus, Carolus, also Linn, Carl von) (1707–1778), Swedish naturalist, "father of modern botanical systematics" and creator of modern biological nomenclature. Born May 23, 1707 in Roshult in the province of Småland in the family of a village pastor. His parents wanted Karl to become a clergyman, but from his youth he was fascinated by natural history, especially botany. These studies were encouraged by a local doctor, who advised Linnaeus to choose the profession of a physician, since at that time botany was considered part of pharmacology. In 1727, Linnaeus entered Lund University, and the following year he moved to Uppsala University, where the teaching of botany and medicine was better placed. In Uppsala, he lived and worked with Olaf Celsius, a theologian and amateur botanist who contributed to the preparation of the book Biblical Botany (Hierobotanicum), a list of plants mentioned in the Bible. In 1729, as a New Year's gift to Celsius, Linnaeus wrote an essay Introduction to Plant Engagements (Praeludia sponsalorum plantarun), in which he poetically described their sexual process. This work not only delighted Celsius, but also aroused the interest of teachers and students of the university. She predetermined the main range of future interests of Linnaeus - the classification of plants according to their reproductive organs. In 1731, having defended his dissertation, Linnaeus became an assistant to professor of botany O. Rudbek. AT next year made a trip to Lapland. For three months he wandered around this then wild country, collecting plant samples. The Uppsala Scientific Society, which sponsored this work, published only a brief report on it - Flora Lapponica. Linnaeus's detailed work on the plants of Lapland was published only in 1737, and his vividly written diary of the expedition Lapland life (Lachesis Lapponica) was published after the author's death in Latin translation. In 1733–1734, Linnaeus lectured and conducted scientific work at the university, wrote a number of books and articles. However, continuing a medical career traditionally required a degree abroad. In 1735 he entered the University of Harderwijk in Holland, where he soon received a doctorate in medicine. In Holland, he became close to the famous Leiden physician G. Boerhaave, who recommended Linnaeus to the mayor of Amsterdam, Georg Kliffort, a passionate gardener who by that time had collected a magnificent collection of exotic plants. Cliffort made Linnaeus his personal physician and instructed him to identify and classify the specimens he bred. The result was the excellent treatise Cliffort's Garden (Hortus Clifortianus), published in 1737.

In 1736-1738, the first editions of many of Linnaeus's works were published in Holland: in 1736 - the System of Nature (Systema naturae), the Botanical Library (Bibliotheca botanica) and the Fundamentals of Botany (Fundamenta botanica); in 1737 - Criticism of botany (Critica botanica), Genera of plants (Genera plantarum), Flora of Lapland (Flora Lapponica) and Clifffort Garden (Hortus Cliffortianus); in 1738 - Plant classes (Classes plantarum), Collection of genera (Corollarium generum) and Sexual method (Methodus sexualist). In addition, in 1738 Linnaeus edited a book on fish Ichthyologia (Ichthyologia), which remained unfinished after the death of his friend Peter Artedi. Botanical works, especially plant genera, formed the basis of modern plant taxonomy. In them, Linnaeus described and applied a new classification system that greatly simplified the definition of organisms. In his method, which he called "sexual", the main emphasis was on the structure and number of reproductive structures of plants, i.e. stamens (male organs) and pistils (female organs). Although the Linnaean classification is largely artificial, it was so convenient to all the systems that existed at that time that it soon gained general acceptance. Its rules were formulated so simply and clearly that they seemed to be the laws of nature, and Linnaeus himself, of course, considered them as such. However, his views on the sexual process in plants, although not original, found their critics: some accused Linnaeus of immorality, others of excessive anthropomorphism.

An even more daring work than botanical works was the famous System of Nature. Its first edition of about a dozen printed sheets, which was a general outline of the planned book, was an attempt to classify all the creations of nature - animals, plants and minerals - into classes, orders, genera and species, and also to establish rules for their identification. Corrected and enlarged editions of this treatise appeared 12 times during Linnaeus's lifetime and were reprinted several times after his death.

In 1738 Linnaeus, on behalf of Cliffort, visited the botanical centers of England. By that time, he had already earned international recognition among naturalists and received invitations to work in Holland and Germany. However, Linnaeus chose to return to Sweden. In 1739 he opened a medical practice in Stockholm and continued to study natural history. In 1741 he was appointed professor of medicine at Uppsala University, and in 1742 he also became a professor of botany there. In the following years, he mainly taught and wrote scientific works, but at the same time he made several scientific expeditions to little-studied areas of Sweden and published a report on each of them. Linnaeus's enthusiasm, his fame, and, most importantly, his ability to infect others with the desire to search for something new attracted many followers to him. He collected a huge herbarium and a collection of plants. Collectors from all over the world sent him specimens of unknown forms of life, and he described their findings in his books.

In 1745 Linnaeus publishes Flora of Sweden (Flora Suecica), in 1746 - Fauna of Sweden (Fauna Suecica), in 1748 - Uppsala Garden (Hortus Upsaliensis). In Sweden and abroad, more and more editions of the System of Nature continue to appear. Some of them, especially the sixth (1748), the tenth (1758) and the twelfth (1766), substantially supplemented the previous ones. The famous 10th and 12th editions became multi-volume encyclopedias, not only an attempt to classify natural objects, but also giving brief descriptions, i.e. distinctive features of all species of animals, plants and minerals known by that time. An article about each species was supplemented with information about its geographical distribution, habitat, behavior and varieties. The 12th edition was the most complete, but the 10th became the most important. It was from the moment of its publication that the priority of modern zoological nomenclature was established, because it was in this book that Linnaeus first gave double (binary, or binomial) names to all animal species known to him. In 1753 he completed his great work Types of Plants (Species plantarum); it contained descriptions and binary names of all plant species that determined modern botanical nomenclature. In the book Philosophy of Botany (Philosophia botanica), published in 1751, Linnaeus aphoristically outlined the principles that guided him in the study of plants. The German writer, thinker and naturalist Goethe admitted: "Apart from Shakespeare and Spinoza, Linnaeus had the strongest influence on me."

The meaning of Linnaeus and the binary system of biological nomenclature. Linnaeus is the author of over 180 books and numerous articles, mainly on natural history and medicine. For his contemporaries, lists, classifications and descriptions of plants and animals known at that time were of the greatest importance. He systematized the scattered and often contradictory data of earlier authors and himself described a large number of new species. His publications stimulated further research, as they enabled scientists to clearly distinguish between the known and the unknown.

Modern naturalists see in Linnaeus, first of all, the founder of the binary system of scientific nomenclature, recognized today throughout the world. The binary system assumes that each species of plants and animals has a unique scientific name belonging only to it (binomen), consisting of only two words (Latin or Latinized). The first of them is a generic name - common for a whole group of closely related species that make up one biological genus. The second, the specific epithet, is an adjective or noun (in the genitive case or in the application function) that refers to only one species of a given genus. Thus, the lion and tiger included in the genus "cats" (Felis) are called Felis leo and Felis tigris, respectively, and the wolf from the genus dog (Canis) is called Canis lupus. The simplicity and clarity of such a system, which simultaneously determines the kinship and species uniqueness of organisms, together with the authority of Linnaeus himself, a recognized specialist in the identification of living forms, led to the universal recognition of the binary names he proposed. In fairness, it should be recognized that they were used before by some other authors, but not systematically. Although Linnaeus included many of them in his writings, the species names in his Species of Plants (1753) and System of Nature (1758) are considered precisely "Linnean", since in these books the binary system first found its consistent embodiment.

It is curious that Linnaeus himself did not attach much importance to the binary system. He emphasized the polynomial, i.e. verbose name-description, and the corresponding binomen himself considered a simple name (nomen trivialis), which has no scientific value and only facilitates the memorization of the species.

The Linnean classification system was subsequently radically revised, but its basic principles were preserved. His ideas about the taxonomic relationships of organisms are far from modern, since they are based on very limited factual data and outdated philosophical concepts. He proposed his classification long before the advent of Darwin's theory of evolution, which established that biological systematics should reflect the consistent origin of various forms of living things from common ancestors. Comparative anatomy and morphology in the 18th century. were just emerging, paleontology as a science did not exist, and no one even thought about genetics. However, the classification by Linnaeus of the facts accumulated by his time became the foundation on which the building of modern biology grew.

Materials of the encyclopedia "The World Around Us" are used

Literature:

Linnaeus K. The system of nature. The Animal Kingdom, ch. 1–2. St. Petersburg, 1804–1805

Bobrov E.G. Carl Linnaeus, 1707-1778. L., 1970

Linnaeus K. Philosophy of Botany. M., 1989

Linnaeus was born in 1707 in the locality of Roshult in southern Sweden in the family of a village pastor who owned a small wooden house and garden, in which Karl first met the rich world of plants. He collected them, sorted, dried and made herbariums. Karl received his primary education at a local school (teachers considered him an incompetent child).

The parents sent their son to Lund University in the hope that he would receive a medical education. A year later, Linnaeus moved to Uppsala and received a higher botanical education here. The Royal Society in Sweden sent Linnaeus to Lapland in scientific expedition. From there, Linnaeus brought a huge collection of plants, animals and minerals. The result of this journey was Linnaeus's first botanical work, The Flora of Lapland. However the glory of the great scientist Linnaeus won with a small work (12 pages) entitled "The System of Nature", which he published in 1735 in Leiden (Holland).

Linnaeus classified the organic world- each animal and plant received two Latin names: the first meant genus, second - view. The concept of a species as a sum of individuals differing from each other no more than the children of the same parents was introduced into biology by John Ray (1627-1705), and Linnaeus identified all plants and all animals known at that time. Linnaeus's views were static.

After receiving his medical degree in Hartkali (Holland), Linnaeus spent two years in Leiden. Here he matured ingenious ideas of a systematic ordering of the principles of classification in all three kingdoms of nature. While in Holland, he published his most important works. It should be noted, however, that in the classification of the organic world the most important place was occupied by "Systems of Nature" (in zoology) and "Plant Species" (in botany). In the second edition of the book (1761), 1260 genera and 7540 species of plants were described, with varieties separately identified.

Linnaeus divided plants into 24 classes. He recognized the existence of sex in plants and based his classification, called sexual (sex), on the characteristic features of stamens and pistils.

By the nature of the structure of female organs plants - pistils Linnaeus divided classes into groups. The Linnaean system was artificial: plants belonged to one or another group on the basis of single signs, which led to many errors. The main merits of Linnaeus are:

• creation of binary nomenclature,
• improvement and "standardization" of botanical terminology.

Instead of the previous cumbersome definitions, Linnaeus introduced short and clear ones, containing a list of plant characteristics in a certain order.

He distinguished the following systematic categories of living organisms subordinate to each other: classes, orders, genera, species, varieties. Linnaeus was aware of the artificiality of his system, the conventionality of classification according to arbitrarily chosen features. Striving for perfection, Linnaeus introduced another classification. He distributed all the plants by order (better to say families) which seemed natural to him.

After making several scientific journeys, Linnaeus settled in Uppsala. Here in 1742 he was appointed teacher at the department of botany of the university. Students from all over the world began to come to him, who wanted to listen to lectures. A special role in the classes was played by the university botanical garden, in which Linnaeus collected over 3,000 different plants from all over the world. Subsequently, this garden also became the university zoological garden. In 1751, Linnaeus wrote a textbook entitled "Philosophy of Botany". In addition to several major works, he published a large number of articles in the journals of various scientific societies in Stockholm, Uppsala, St. Petersburg, London and other cities.

In 1762, Linnaeus was admitted to the Academy of Sciences in Paris.

So, Linnaeus was the first to give an accurate description of the species and genera of 10,000 plants, drew attention to the phenomenon of the movement of flowers and leaves in plants, although he did not try to explain its mechanics in any way; created, although artificial, but a simple system of classification of the vegetable kingdom, based on the size and arrangement of the stamens and pistils of a flower.

The classification adopted by Linnaeus has received international recognition.

However, the scientist was not a supporter evolutionary direction in biology. In accordance with the biblical legend, he claimed that the first pairs of organisms, which over time spread and multiplied throughout the earth, were created on some paradise island. Initially, he believed that each species remained unchanged from the day of creation, but later Linnaeus noticed that as a result of crossing organisms, new species can arise. Despite this, Linnaeus argued that any kind of reasoning about the variability of species is a departure from religious dogma and is reprehensible. Thus, Linnaeus based his artificial classification of the plant kingdom on the theory of immutability of species.

Although Linnaeus was not an evolutionist, the static systematics of the organic world he created became the cornerstone in the development of natural science.

The double names of plants and animals not only streamlined the chaos in the classification of fauna and flora, but over time turned into an important means of determining kinship. certain types. Thus, the Linnaean classification played an outstanding role in evolutionary theory.

Life and work of Carl Linnaeus.

Linnaeus (Linne, Linnaeus) Karl (May 23, 1707, Roshuld - January 10, 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 in the family of a village pastor. Studied natural and medical sciences at Lund (1727) and Uppsala (since 1728) universities. In 1732 he made a trip to Lapland, which resulted in the work "Flora of Lapland" (1732, complete edition in 1737). In 1735 he moved to the city of Hartekamp (Holland), where he was in charge of the botanical garden; defended his doctoral dissertation "A 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 was engaged in medical practice in Stockholm; in 1739 he headed the naval hospital, won the right to dissect corpses in order to determine the cause of death. Participated in the creation of the Swedish Academy of Sciences and became its first president (1739). Since 1741, 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 the main merits of Linnaeus 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 species. 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 arrangement of the stamens and pistils of a flower, as well as the sign of one-, two- or multi-homogeneity of the plant, 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. Due to the simplicity of the nomenclature he used, descriptive work was greatly facilitated, the 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, and he included all forms of invertebrates known in his time, except for insects, to 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 signs and do not reflect the actual relationship between different forms. So, on the basis of only one common feature - the structure of the beak - Linnaeus tried to build a "natural" system based on the totality of many features, but did not reach the goal.

Linnaeus was opposed to the idea of ​​a true development of the organic world; he believed that the number of species remains constant, with the time of their "creation" they did not change, 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 but shake his metaphysical ideas. In his last writings, Linnaeus, in a very cautious form, suggested that all species of the same genus were originally one species, and allowed the possibility of the emergence of new species resulting from crosses between already existing species.

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

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

6. Linnaeus and modernity
7. Main works
8. Carl Linnaeus in literature, art, philately
9.

Nomina si nescis periit
et cognitio rerum.
If you don't know the names
the knowledge of things will also die.

Carl Linnaeus

Linnaeus laid the foundations of modern binomial nomenclature by introducing the so-called nomina trivialia into the practice of taxonomy, which later began to be used as specific epithets in the binomial names of living organisms. The method of forming a scientific name for each of the species introduced by Linnaeus is still used today. The use of the Latin name of two words - the name of the genus, then the specific name - made it possible to separate the nomenclature from the taxonomy.

Carl Linnaeus is the author of the most successful artificial classification of plants and animals, which has become the basis for the scientific classification of living organisms. He divided the natural world into three "kingdoms": mineral, vegetable and animal, using four levels: classes, orders, genera and species.

Described about one and a half thousand new plant species and a large number of animal species.

In part, Linnaeus owes humanity the current Celsius scale. Initially, the scale of the thermometer, invented by Linnaeus' colleague at Uppsala University, Professor Anders Celsius, 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 herbaria, 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 long family disputes and against the instructions of Carl Linnaeus, the entire collection went to his son, Carl Linnaeus Jr., who moved it from the Hammarby Museum to his home in Uppsala and worked extremely diligently to preserve the items included in it. The English naturalist Sir Joseph Banks offered to sell the collection, but he refused.

But shortly after the sudden death of Carl Linnaeus Jr. from a stroke in late 1783, his mother 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 to do so. Potential buyers were also a student of Carl Linnaeus, Baron Claes Alströmer, the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, and the English botanist John Sibthorp Russian. and others, but Smith was quicker: quickly approving the inventory sent to him, he approved the deal. Scientists and students of Uppsala University demanded that the authorities do everything to leave the legacy of Linnaeus at home, but King Gustav III of Sweden was in Italy at that time, and government officials replied 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 the English brig that was taking 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 specimens of insects, more than one and a half thousand shells, over seven hundred coral specimens, two and a half thousand specimens of minerals; 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.