A little-remembered rivalry that shaped the modern world
The race between Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis de Buffon to categorise all life had long-lasting consequences
Homo sapiens. Tyrannosaurus rex. Boa constrictor. Even the layest of laymen knows that the scientific names of species have two parts. Some may recall that this convention was invented by Carl Linnaeus, a Swede. Classifying nature was a preoccupation of natural historians in the 18th century, and Linnaeus’s way won out.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Class acts”
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