86
IF YOU DO NOT KNOW
THE NAMES OF THINGS,
THE KNOWLEDGE OF
THEM IS LOST
A SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING
ALL NATURE’S ORGANISMS
B
efore the 18th century, there
was no consistent naming
system for animals and
plants. Botanists and zoologists
often did not know if they were
discussing the same organism.
To overcome the problem, Swedish
botanist Carl Linnaeus invented
a revolutionary system, which is still
in use today. He is known as the
“father of taxonomy”—the science of
naming and classifying organisms.
Linnaeus divided both the plant
and animal kingdoms into classes,
orders, genera, and species.
Organisms were placed in these
levels on the basis of sharedIN CONTEXT
KEY FIGURE
Carl Linnaeus (170 7–78)BEFORE
1682 John Ray, an English
botanist, proposes that the
plant kingdom be divided
into trees and two families
of herbaceous plants.1694 French botanist Joseph
Pitton de Tournefort publishes
Eléments de Botanique. This
beautifully illustrated book
becomes the botanical
classification benchmark
for half a century.AFTER
1957 Sir Julian Huxley is the
first to use the term “clade” to
describe a common ancestor
and all of its descendants.1969 Robert Whittaker, an
American ecologist, argues for
a five-kingdom categorization
of life: Monera, Protista, Fungi,
Plantae, and Animalia.characteristics, such as similarity
of body parts, size, shape, and
methods of getting food. Linnaeus
also adopted a precise two-word
(binomial) name for each species.Early insights
By 1730, while still a student,
Linnaeus began to have issues
with the system for classifying
plants developed by Joseph Pitton
de Tournefort more than 30 years
earlier. For Linnaeus, the
characteristics of individual species
needed to be analyzed more closely
in order to produce a more thorough
taxonomic system.Collaborative work is
crucial for the advancement
of scientific knowledge.To work together over
long distances, scientists
need things to be
named with accuracy.Misunderstandings
cause discrepancies in
scientific knowledge.If you do not know
the names of things,
the knowledge of
them is lost.US_086-087_System_for_Identifying_Natures_Organisms.indd 86 12/11/18 6:24 PM