Who introduced the binomial system of nomenclature?

The binomial system of nomenclature was introduced by Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, in the 18th century. This system gives every species a two-part scientific name — the genus name and the species name. For example, in Homo sapiens, Homo represents the genus, and sapiens represents the species.

Linnaeus presented this system in his book Systema Naturae (1758). It replaced long, descriptive Latin names with a simpler and more standardized method of naming organisms. The genus name always starts with a capital letter, while the species name starts with a lowercase letter. Both are italicized when typed or underlined when handwritten.

This system is universally used in biology to avoid confusion caused by local or common names. It also helps classify and identify organisms more accurately across languages and regions. Linnaeus’s contribution laid the foundation of modern taxonomy, the science of classifying living organisms.