Carl Linnaeus

Den store svenske botanikeren Carl von Linné besøkte Rørstad, Sørfold, Norway i 1732, forelsket han seg i Sara Johannesdatter Rasch, som han beskriver som en ung pike på 18 år av ekstraordinær skjønnhet. Men hun ville ikke han noe å gjøre med en svenske , sier han selv.

Carl Linnaeus, or Carl von Linné as he later was called, was born on the 13 of May 1707 at Råshult in the parish of Stenbrohult in Småland, Sweden. His parents were Nils Linnaeus and Christina Brodersonia. Two years after his birth, the family moved to Stenbrohult when his father became a parish priest after his father in law, Samuel Brodersonius, had died. Carl later got four siblings, Anna Maria, Sophia Juliana, Samuel, who later succeeded his father as a parish priest in Stenbrohult, and Emerentia. Nils Linnaeus was a devoted amateur botanist and gardener. His enthusiasm was infectious on the young Carl who early in life becomes interested in botany and at the age of 5 got his own garden to take care of. In 1717 Carl began school in Växjö. His parents had early decided that their son should, like his father, become a priest. Carl was not interested, he preferred to spend his time in the nature. In school therefor he was called "little botanicus". He was not successful in school and the teachers advised Nils against to let his son become a priest. After advise from the teacher in natural science, Dr. Rothman, Carl instead got permission to study medicine. In 1727 Carl moved to Lund for medicine studies. In Lund he could wholeheartedly devote himself to medicine and natural history. He wrote in one of his autobiographies that it then became as fun to study as it earlier had been unpleasant. Carl stayed only one year in Lund before he, again after advice from Dr. Rothman, moved to Uppsala.

In 1728 Carl was enrolled at the faculty of medicine at the University of Uppsala. As a student without means Carl soon got influential friends. In the botanical garden in Uppsala Carl met the dean in Uppsala, Olof Celsius, who was very interested in botany. Celsius helped Carl financially and for a while Carl stayed in Celsius house before he moved to professor Olof Rudbeck fil. to work as a teacher for Rudbeck's three sons.

Professor Olof Rudbeck fil. cared for Carl, made it possible for him to get a scholarship, and when Rudbeck needed to leave his job because of age he commissioned Carl to give lectures in botany in the botanical garden. As a botanical demonstrator Carl renewed the badly looked after botanical garden and introduced new, rare plants. He also began to teach botanical theory, which was something completely new. He developed his thoughts in this subject and published them in 1751 in Philosophia botanica.

Linnaeus stayed only a short time as a botanical demonstrator. When the medicine student Nils Rosén returned from a journey in 1731 he was commissioned to substitute for Rudbeck instead of Linnaeus. Carl decided in the end of 1731 to leave the Rudbeck family and for a while he went back to his parents in Småland.

Ref.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Linnaeus

https://snl.no/Carl_von_Linn%C3%A9

Kungl. Maj:ts Ordens arkiv, Matriklar, SE/KH/1/D 1/1 (1748-1811). Sidan 82. Rad 64. https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/E0000836_00100#?c=&m=&s=&cv=...

http://www.historiesajten.se/visainfo.asp?id=189

http://www.adelsvapen.com/genealogi/Von_Linn%C3%A9_nr_2044

https://www.hd.se/2007-04-30/carl-von-linne-prastson-med-rotterna-i...