Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist, laid the foundations for the modern biological naming scheme of binomial nomenclature.
Linnaeus published his Systema Naturae in 1735, which contained the first formalized system for classifying organisms. Organisms were classified based on their physical similarities and grouped into smaller and larger categories. The smallest category was the species which was further grouped into genera, families, orders, classes and phyla. This system is still used today with some modifications.
Linnaeus also developed the concept of binomial nomenclature which is the system of using two Latin names to identify each species. This system is used to name all plants and animals. The first name is the genus and the second is the species. For example Homo sapiens means humans are in genus Homo and species sapiens
