Carl Linnaeus the Younger


Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Carolus Linnaeus the Younger or Carl von Linné d. y. was a Swedish naturalist. He is known as Linnaeus filius to distinguish him from his famous father, the systematist Carl Linnaeus.

Biography

He was enrolled at the University of Uppsala at the age of nine and was taught science by his father's students, including Pehr Löfling, Daniel Solander and Johan Peter Falk. In 1763, aged just 22, he succeeded his father as the head of Practical Medicine at Uppsala. His promotion to professor—without taking exams or defending a thesis—caused resentment among his colleagues.
Linnaeus' work was modest in comparison to that of his father. His best-known work is the Supplementum Plantarum systematis vegetabilium of 1781, which contains botanical descriptions by the elder Linnaeus and his colleagues, edited and with additions by the son.
He took a two-year trip to England, France, the Netherlands and Denmark between 1781 and 1783.
In London he had laid the ground for sickness, and shortly after his return, he suffered the fever and stroke from which he died at the age of 42.
He had inherited his father's extensive scientific collections of books, specimens, and correspondence and had worked to preserve them. In October 1784 his mother, Sara Elisabeth, sold the library and herbarium to the English botanist, Sir James Edward Smith. After his death his widow, Pleasance Smith, sold the collection to the Linnean Society of London.
Together with his parents, Carl Linnaeus the Younger was buried in the family grave of Uppsala Cathedral.