Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)
Linnaeus was a Swedish physician and botanist who is regarded as the father of taxonomy (the classification of organisms in categories based on common characteristics). His system of classifying plants and animals is still in use today. Linnaeus was a pious and Bible believing man who sought to delineate the basic "kinds" set forth in Genesis as species. He realized that variation can take place within a "kind" but not from one "kind" to another. His quest for order in the world of diversity was ad majorem Dei gloriam, "for the greater glory of God". A century later Linnaeus' system would be used to argue for evolution.
TAXONOMY- The science of categorizing organisms
Example: CAT
SPECIES - domestica
GENUS - Felis (true cats)
FAMILY - Felidae (tractile claws, lengthy tail, tooth arrangement)
ORDER - Carnivora (predatory mode of life)
CLASS - Mammalia (regulated body temperature, possess hair, suckle their young)
SUBPHYLUM - Vertebrata (possess vertebrae)
PHYLUM - Chordata (pharyngeal pouches, dorsal tubular nerve cord)
KINGDOM - Animalia (multicellular eukaryotes {cells with nuclei} that ingest nutrients)
[The 3 kingdoms have now been expanded to 5.]
References [Morris 1982, 49], [Cambell 1987, 425]
Photo Credits:
http://www.palaeos.org/Carolus_Linnaeus
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/rtp/students/2006/schedule06_rarebooks_tour_photo.html
http://www.library.otago.ac.nz/exhibitions/linnaeus/cabinet7/index.html