30 Linnaeus
Classics Click to edit Master subtitle style February 26, 2010 U.C. Davis John Rundin
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Linnaeus (1707-1778)
Li-NEE-us or Li-NAY-us Alternate spelling: Linneus
Birth Name: Carl Linnaeus Latin Name: Carolus Linnaeus
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An Exciting, Productive, aBorn inAdventurous Life nd the Swedish countryside.
From childhood he had been obsessed with
plants.
Attends Lund University, then Uppsala
University
Expedition to Lapland (1732) He goes to the Netherlands, where he
gains fame for his botanical works.
From this point on, he is constantly
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Biological
Linnaeus is credited with establishing
modern biological nomenclature.
Nomenclature = name calling {nomin/nomen} = name
unominate ubinomial (two-name as in binomial
nomenclature, referring to a two word system of naming organisms (Homo sapiens)
1/10/11 umisnomer
(incorrect use of a name)
Biological Nomenclature
Currently several international bodies regulate
scientific names of organisms.
The International Botanical Congress has produced
the I nternational Code of Botanical Nomenclature [ICBN]. has produced the I nternational Code of Zoological Nomenclature [ICZN].
The International Union of Biological Sciences [IUBS]
There are also codes for viruses and for bacteria.
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Linnaeus and the Origins of Modern Biological Nomenclature Linnaeus over his life ambitiously sought to
catalog all living things into organized groups.
Linnaeus great summaries of animal and plant
life are the official beginning of modern biological nomenclature.
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Taxonomy
{tax/tact} = arrange
taxon tactic syntax
systematics {sys} + {temat} + {ics}
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Classification of Organisms before Darwin
Most of us assume that
animals or plants that have common ancestors belong in the same group. People should be grouped with chimpanzees because we share a common origin.
Before Darwin, that was a
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rare or nonexistent idea
Charles Darwin
Classification of Organisms before Darwin
Most of us assume
that animals or plants that have common ancestors belong in same the group. People should be grouped with chimpanzees because we share a common origin.
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Classification of Organisms before Darwin
Without a notion of
common ancestry, all sorts of things can be used to classify organisms.
Often classification, as
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in herbals, was based on usefulness to humans.
Classification of Organisms before Darwin
Some classification
systems from the premodern period look quite crazy.
Others were quite
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interesting and somewhat acceptable even to modern people: Aristotles
The Centuries Before Linnaeus
In the ancient world,
philosophers like the Greek philosopher Aristotle made real advances in classification through close observation of the natural world.
In the medieval period, 1/10/11
Species
Aristotle investigated the
notion of what it means to be something, that is, the notion of definition.
Take a person, say Bill. Is
there an answer to the question, What is Bills form? An obvious answer is that Bill is human; thats his form. 1/10/11
Genus
It is possible to put species into larger
genu s (gen er-) gene ral
groups that unite species with a common features.
He called such a larger grouping a
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genos, which was translated into the
Definition
A proper definition in Aristotles
logical scheme occurs when we give the genus of a thing and then indicate what makes it as a species different from other members of its genus.
The differences that separate a
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species Special specious specimen specific specify
The Period Right Before Linnaeus and his The opening up of the world to Success
European colonial endeavors gave a great impetus to cataloguing the natural world.
Linnaeus had had several
predecessors whose taxonomic schemes were arguably superior to his own.
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His Success
Simplicity of his system.
Binomial nomenclature.
Things are identified, generally, by two words: genus and species. Previous naming systems were overly descriptive and complex
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Modern Taxonomy
Eukarya Animalia Chordata Mammalia Primates Hominidae
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