Carl von Linné (Carolus Linnaeus) (1707 - 1778)
"The Father of Taxonomy"

    Carl von Linné was a Swedish botanist who developed a system of classification based on the concept of binomial nomenclature, in which every organism has both a genus ("general") and species ("specific") name. Related genera (plural) are further grouped into an Order, Orders into a Class, and Classes into a Kingdom. (The original system did not include the categories Family or Phylum). His original system published in 1735 [below] identified six Classes in the Animal Kingdom, plus the unclassified "Paradoxa'.

    Publication of the 10th edition of "Systema Naturae" in 1758 is regarded as the "birthday" of modern systematics, dating from 01 January 1758. Linnaean binomials take precedence over all subsequently published names. Linnaeus' name is included in species first described in that work. For example, the Atlantic Cod is formally named as Gadus morhua Linnaeus, 1758, often abbreviated simply Gadus morhua L.