Carl Peter Thunberg Swedish naturalist Date of Birth: 30.05.1743 Country: Sweden

Biography of Carl Peter Thunberg

Carl Peter Thunberg, a Swedish scientist and naturalist, was born on May 30, 1743, into an accountant's family. In 1761, he enrolled at Uppsala University, where he joined the group of Carl Linnaeus, who had just received knighthood for his scientific achievements. Soon, Carl became one of his favorite students. Thunberg graduated from the university with two diplomas in medicine and botany. Linnaeus' students dispersed around the world to collect and describe plants. At that time, Japan was the only vast territory with unique and practically undescribed flora. However, the country was closed off, and the Dutch East India Company was the only entity allowed to trade in Japan, with only Dutch personnel. Driven by the idea of exploring Japan, Thunberg traveled to Amsterdam, where he found employment with the Dutch East India Company as a physician. In this role, he went to Batavia, now Jakarta, where he worked for three years, providing various medical assistance, studying the local flora and fauna, and mastering the Dutch language, various pidgins derived from it, and Japanese. Subsequently, Carl signed a contract as a station physician from the Netherlands and traveled to Japan. Here, he collected plants and information for the first description of the country's plant life, known as the "Flora Japonica."

Thunberg passed away on August 8, 1828, in the town of Thunaberg near Uppsala. The rich and valuable collections he gathered during his travels were later donated to Uppsala University.