Peter Artedi

Swedish ichthyologist and botanist, known as ‘the father of ichthyology’. He wrote Ichthyologia, a systematic study of fishes, edited by Linnaeus, his closest friend, and published in 1738. The classification of animals and plants in his work inspired Linnaeus.

Peter Artedi (February 22, 1705 – September 27, 1735) was a Swedish naturalist and is known as the "father of Ichthyology." In 1728 his countryman Carolus Linnaeus arrived in Uppsala, and a lasting friendship was formed between the two. In 1732 both left Uppsala, Artedi for England, and Linnaeus for Lapland;

Artedi accidentally drowned at Amsterdam, where he was engaged in cataloguing the collections of Albertus Seba, a wealthy Dutchman, who had formed what was perhaps the richest museum of his time. According to agreement, his manuscripts came into the hands of Linnaeus, and his Bibliotheca Ichthyologica and Philosophia Ichthyologica, together with a life of the author, were published at Leiden in 1738.