Olof Rudbeck the Younger


Olof Rudbeck the Younger or Olaus Rudbeckius d.y. was a Swedish explorer, scientist, botanist, ornithologist and rector of Uppsala University.

Biography

Olof Rudbeck was born in Uppsala, Sweden as the son of Olaus Rudbeck Sr.. His father was a noted scientist professor of medicine at Uppsala University. He traveled to England, Holland and Germany in 1687 to study botany. Rudbeck took a medical degree at the Utrecht University in 1690. Returning to his home country in 1692, he succeeded his father as professor of medicine at Uppsala University. Serving aside Lars Roberg, he specialized in anatomy, botany, zoology, and pharmacology, while Roberg gave lectures in medicine, surgery, physiology, and chemistry.
He traveled to Lapland in 1695, joining an expedition commissioned by the King Charles XI of Sweden, for which his mission was to study nature, the mountainous region in particular. He returned and published Lapponia illustrata, an album of beautifully colored pictures of birds, flowers and scenery, for which he is best remembered.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Rudbeck turned his attention away from nature studies to speculation about the relationship between Sami languages to Finnish and Hungarian.
To honor his accomplishments, he was ennobled in 1719 by Queen Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden, as a "naturalized nobleman". His student, the botanist Carl Linnaeus, named a genus of flowers Rudbeckia in honor of him and his father.

Personal life

Rudbeck was married three times. Rudbeck had 24 children with three wives. His sister, Wendela, married Peter Olai Nobelius, and from them descends the Nobel family, including Ludvig Nobel, founder of Branobel and Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prizes.