Carl Peter Thunberg

1743–1828.

Botanist, physician.

In 1770, Carl Peter Thunberg, after studying with Carl Linnaeus, went on a nine-year journey abroad that began in the Netherlands. There Thunberg met the most prominent botanist of the time.

Thunberg then pursued medical studies in Paris before being the ship's doctor on a ship going from the Netherlands to Cape Town, to stay for three years to explore the area's nature. The studies were documented in Flora capensis (1-3, 1807 – 1813). Thunberg was the first to describe the flora in South Africa and has therefore been called the father of South African flora.

In 1775 Thunberg continued to Japan, where he collected material for his Flora japonica (1784). The work was epoch-making for the knowledge of Japan's plant world and Thunberg received the honorary name of Japan's Linnaeus.

In 1779 Thunberg returned to Uppsala and succeeded in 1784 Carl Linnaeus the younger as professor of medicine and botany.

Thunberg also published the Journey in Europe, Africa, Asia, established the years 1770–1779 (1-4, 1788 – 1793). The collections from the trips were deposited at the University library.

Carl Peter Thunberg's estate Tunaberg, north of the Svartbäcken creek in Uppsala, where he lived the rest of his long life, was known for his prestigious horticulture well into the 1940s.

 

Burial site: 0101-0103

Image description : Carl Peter Thunberg, 1801. Engraver Anton Ulrik Berndes. Photo: UUB. [ The image is cropped ]
Click here for an uncropped image

 

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