Linnaeus, Carl (Carl Linnaeus)

Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish scientist born in 1707 who developed a system for naming and classifying living things. His method uses two Latin names—one for the genus (a group of similar species) and one for the specific species—making it easier for scientists worldwide to identify and communicate about plants, animals, and fungi. This system, called binomial nomenclature, is still in use today. Linnaeus’s work laid the foundation for modern taxonomy, helping us organize the natural world systematically and understand the relationships between different organisms.