Carolus Linnaeus: The Swedish Naturalist and Venerable Traveler

Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) (1707-1778) lived during and helped establish the Swedish golden years of science in the early and mid Eighteenth Century (other notables of the time included Emanuel Swedenborg, Anders Celsius, Pehr Kalm, Axel Cronstedt, Daniel Tilas, Johan Wallerius, and Torbern Bergman). Although known best for his contributions to botany, he was a natural scientist of the first class and made contributions to many fields, including geology. His contributions to geology, however, are not well known. Obtaining his medical degree in Harderwijk (Holland) in 1735, he had opportunity to visit the savants of the day on the continent and in England making contacts that lasted a lifetime. But Linnaeus was a believer in having scientists see their own country first and admonished his fellow workers to learn about Sweden "… [and not to] cross the stream for water, and waste … money endeavoring to learn in a foreign country what … might have [been] acquired at home"—good advice even today. He practiced what he preached and during his lifetime made five notable resor (=journeys) in Sweden: Lappland (1732), Dalarna (1734), Öland and Gotland (1741), Västergötland (1746), and Skåne (1749). These field excursions were recorded, not in the scientific language of the day, Latin, but in Swedish and thus were not widely read outside the country. As was his custom, he recorded everything noted on the journeys. Later, through his earlier contacts via the post and his apostles (students), he kept abreast of happenings all over the globe.