Tag: Botany

Uppsala: The Linnaeus Museum

The latest in my series of posts about my Swedish holiday – today featuring the Linnaeus museum.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series of posts about my holiday in Sweden. This post is the last to focus purely on Uppsala, although there is still the account of the journey from Uppsala to Malmo to cover.

FROM LIBRARY TO MUSEUM

Those who read my previous post will recall that while there was plenty to see in the exhibition of treasures at Carolina Rediviva I was prevented from photographing most of it, so I was quite glad once I had finished there to get back into action, starting with these pictures…

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Shortly after I had taken the above pictures I came to…

THE BERLIN MURAL

This mural, which as the information board reproduced below shows is named because of its origins, is actually four walls, the front and two side walls of which are also reproduced below (I could not get a sufficient distance behind the back wall to be able to photograph it).

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We now get to the main meat of this post, starting with…

A ROUGH GUIDE TO CAROLUS LINNAEUS

Carolus Linnaeus lived in the 18th century (he was roughly contemporary with Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of the creator of the theory of evolution by natural selection), and the house in which he lived is in central Uppsala. He was a botanist by training but is best know these days for being the creator of the system by which all living organisms are still categorized. Discoveries made since he was around have changed some categorizations and created some new ones, but the framework and methodology used are still his.

Such names as Homo sapiens (note that with these type of names the first word is always capitalized and the second word never so, even if it derives from a proper name) come from Linnaeus’ magnum opus.

He is also significant in the history of science for reversing a previous trend – whereas previous eminent scientists had taken Latin names to sound more impressive he went the other way, changing his Latin birth name (his father, a clergyman whose birth name had been Nils Ingemarsson had taken a Latin name to emphasize his education), used so far in this post, to a vernacular one, Carl Von Linne. His reasons for making this change were it must be said just as rooted in snobbery as those of folk who  Latinized – he had been given a patent of nobility and considered his new aristocratic designation  more important than his old Latin name.

Many books on the history of science cover his career in detail, my own personal recommendation being John Gribbin’s magisterial Science: A History 1543-2001.

THE LINNAEUS MUSEUM

As you approach the museum it is made suitably obvious that you are doing so…

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Here is the approach to the house…

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The rest of this post will be devoted the photographs I took of the objects in this remarkable museum.

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Linnaeus’ most famous work.
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Linnaeus on plants

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A summer saturday

The shopping is done, the washing is on the line, and I am now in shorts and t shirt, having set up the “outside office” as it is such a beautiful day. I got some very fine pictures while walking to and from the Hardwick Estate to do my shopping. I will soon by tuning into some cricket commentaries on the net (although the spoiled brat millionaires have finished their season in the f-game, there is lower division playoff action which in the minds of those who control scheduling at the BBC trumps T20 cricket).

I will conclude the very brief text portion of this post with what is going to become my equivalent of  “delenda est Carthago”: If you have not already liked www.facebook.com/GreatAuction please do so.

To think that some local government numpty thought that this land could be built on! Note that this is just an ordinary high tide, not a storm surge.
To think that some local government numpty thought that this land could be built on! Note that this is just an ordinary high tide, not a storm surge.
With the fine weather, boats are once again making use of the jetty
With the fine weather, boats are once again making use of the jetty
The Outside Office at my humble abode.
The Outside Office at my humble abode.
One for the botanists to puzzle over - these flowers grow just outside Hardings Pits.
One for the botanists to puzzle over – these flowers grow just outside Hardings Pits.
The Purfleet on a summer's day.
The Purfleet on a summer’s day.