Carolus Linnaeus

Once upon a time, long before the invention of the Internet, the world was an unknown place. Just waiting to be discovered. Of course, throughout Europe were racing to the new world. To discover and classify organisms that were previously unknown to them. The problem was that no one would know anything about that organism, just from hearing its name. I will call you fred after my favorite uncle. I do say what on earth is a fred. Scientific progress requires communication and cooperation between many people. How is this conundrum to be solved? We need a classification system. I will make it something that can be easily memorized through mnemonics to make the lives of future biology students much easier. Just remember, king Philip's cat ordered fried green spinach. K as in King, stands for kingdom. P as in Phillips stands for Phylum. C as in cat stands for class. O as in ordered stands for order. F as in friends stands for family. G as in green stands for genus. And S as in spinach stands for species. This is the most specific of all the groups. The problem still remained. What language should this new system be in? It must be a language that is known to all of Europe, yet belongs to no one, so that it will be universally utilized. I know it shall be in Latin, the language of the church. No one can argue with that. While perilous, we can now communicate our scientific findings effectively and science can progress. In honor of the excellence you have shown and the propagation of the scientific community. I knight you sir carolus. Congratulations.