What an anniversary!

In 2007, the 300th anniversary of Carl Linnaeus’ birth was celebrated. It was a fantastic jubilee year, with a visit from an emperor, celebrations in 28 countries, 70 new books, 425 Linnaeus schools, 2,000 events, 10,000 articles, 100,000 Linnaeus schoolchildren and millions of people who met Linnaeus. These are some of the results of the anniversary year Linnaeus 2007 – a gigantic cooperation project between Sweden and the world.

Millions of people met the young, self-assured, outside-the-box-thinking and world-famous scientist, in places like Cape Town, Uppsala, Älmhult, Tokyo and Grövelsjön – lecturers, exhibitions, encounters with nature and schoolwork. Researchers met the people and children met Linnaeus. Sweden’s biggest-ever natural science anniversary can in hindsight be seen as the most successful Swedish jubilee of all time. Its international impact was enormous and the celebration touched all age groups and stimulated continued natural science research in the spirit of Linnaeus.

The legacy of the Linnaeus Year
During the anniversary year, monuments and mementos of Linnaeus were freshened up and received a considerable increase in visitors. Several newly-started networks live on, 6,000 Linnaeus letters were digitalised, cooperation was initiated between research and culture spheres that had not existed previously. The anniversary had vast impact on the scientific world, not least because Linnaeus’ primary research still serves as an exemplar and inspiration. More information can be found on the Linnaeus 2007 website Linné2007.

The Linnaeus 2007 website