Syzdekistan

One of the giants of modern biology, Linnaeus, was born 300 years ago today. He is considered to be the father of modern ecology and taxonomy. Most importantly, he invented the binomial naming system for living things. This is the system of all living things having two names: a genus and species. This system of classification is still used to this day by biologists around the world.

Wired magazine has a great article on binomial nomenclature:

When marine biologist Katrin Linse recently won the honor of naming a new species, she turned to a centuries-old rulebook.

Sorting through 3,000 crustacean samples pulled from deep water near Antarctica she noticed some that hadn’t been described before. The creatures were seemingly related to other tiny shrimplike swimmers thriving on shelves beneath the largely unexplored Ross Sea. But some of their body segments were shorter than they should have been.

After concluding this constituted a new species, the naming part was easy. Epimeria was required for the first name, or genus, already known to comprise some 30 similar species at the time. Free to choose almost anything for the second part, she settled on schiaparelli, after Dr. Stefano Schiaparelli, a biologist “who kindly shared his enthusiasm and knowledge on board” during the Antarctic expedition, Linse wrote in a paper published last week describing the find.

When it comes to naming a brand-new life form, shouldn’t the process be more, well, scientific?

Most scientists say that 272 years after it was introduced, the naming system works just fine. Evolutionary theory and molecular biology have transformed our understanding of life. Computers and digital media have more recently upended longstanding theories of information management. But, over nearly three centuries, the classification system used to organize much of our biological knowledge has remained remarkably arbitrary and ancient: The so-called binomial system of genus and species that Linse and thousands of other biologists use today was first proposed by a Swedish biologist born 300 years ago Wednesday, Carolus Linnaeus. Link.

Mother and philosophy professor, Janet Stemwedel, explains Linnaeus to her kids. They think he is so cool, they should celebrate with cupcakes! Link.