# 2: Classification of living organisms

Classification: The scientific method of dividing organisms into smaller and larger groups, on basis of their similarities.

Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus is the Father of Systematic Biology. 

He believed he could:

• Put every organism into a group  (the science of TAXONOMY)
• Give every organism a name (the science of NOMENCLATURE).

Carolus Linnaeus organized taxonomy (1735).

In his BINOMIAL SYSTEM, every living organism has a unique, two-part name:

• The first name is Genus, the second name is species. 
• Names are written in Latin, printed in italics. 
• The genus always has a capital letter, and the species always has a small letter.

For examples: 

We still use this system today. 

All life forms are categorized into a scheme that had 7 categorical terms. 

The biggest group are Kingdom, the smallest one is Species.

Each kingdom is divided into smaller group, which include genus and species. Organisms can exist in only one group at each level of classification. For example, an organism can only belong to one kingdom or one genus.