Linnaeus: The compleat naturalist

Carl Linnaeus' Systema Naturae (1735) brought order to all recorded knowledge about plants and animals. He invented the system of giving living organisms two Latin names. Here is a lively account of Linnaeus the man-from poor student to professor of medicine and founder of the Royal Academy of Sciences-as well as his landmark scientific achievements, such as naming 9,000 plants, 828 shells, 2,100 insects and 477 fish.