Famous people
Directors and head gardners
A botanic garden is a place for both botany and horticulture, developed and maintained through the collaboration of botanists and gardeners. The Directorship of the Botanical Garden was initially included in one of the University’s professorships; as the number of professors increased over the years, and their subject areas became more narrowly specialised, the Directorship was associated in turn to the professorships of medicine, botany and systematic botany. Since 1977 the garden has been a separate institution with its own Director. In 1983 the Director’s remit was expanded to include responsibility for the Linnaeus Garden and Linnaeus’ Hammarby.
Directors of Hortus Botanicus 1653-1783, before the relocation
The dates indicate the years during which the directors were active.
Olof Rudbeck the elder, 1653-1701
Olof Rudbeck was professor of medicine, a subject that also included botany and zoology. In 1653 he founded the first botanic garden in the country and filled it with plants, many purchased in Holland. Together with his son he worked on a gigantic multi-volume flora, Campus Elysii, which was to contain all known plants of the world. The plant genus Rudbeckia is named after Olof Rudbeck.
Olof Rudbeck the younger, 1701-1740
Olof Rudbeck the younger was at first very interested in botany, and an excellent botanical illustrator. After the botanic garden had been badly damaged by the fire of 1702, his interest waned and he devoted himself to other areas of research.
Carl Linnaeus, 1741-1778
Carl Linnaeus moved to Uppsala in 1728 to study medicine. He was very interested in botany. In 1741 he was appointed professor in medicine and prefect for the botanical garden. Linnaeus redesigned the garden and transformed into "a living textbook" for the students.
Linnaeus is most famous for introducing a new way of classifying and naming plants and animals. Owing to his great contributions for science and Sweden, he was enobled in 1757.
Carl von Linné (Linnaeus) the younger, 1778-1783
Succeeded his father as professor of medicine. He died young and was only active as director of the Botanic Garden for a few years. During this period he carried out research on ferns and mosses, and described new vascular plants from South Africa and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) which he had cultivated in the botanic garden.
Prefect during the relocation of the Garden
Carl Peter Thunberg, 1783–1828
Illustration Thunbergia, ersätt med porträtt på Thunberg?
During the 1770s Carl Peter Thunberg undertook a long expedition to South Africa and Japan. He was an enormously productive researcher and wrote, among other things, the first floras for Japan and South Africa. His scientific collections form the foundation of the Herbarium and the Museum of Zoology (now part of the Museum of Evolution). It was thanks to Carl Peter Thunberg that king Gustav III donated Uppsala Castle garden to the University, along with a large sum of money for the construction of a new department building incorporating an orangery. He is commemorated by the genus Thunbergia (picture), to which the popular garden climber Black-eyed Susan belongs.
Some head gardeners in Hortus Upsaliensis before the relocation
Olof Carlsson Falck, 1697–1716
Very little is known about the first head gardener of the botanic garden. According to the minutes of the Konsistorium (the University’s governing body), Olof Falck was ”essential for the garden”. In 1707 he petitioned the Konsistorium that something must be done for the dromedary that was living in the garden.
Dietrich Nietzel, 1739–1756
Dutch master gardener, originally employed by Carl Linnaeus’ benefactor George Clifford in Hartekamp near Amsterdam. Clifford’s family resented Linnaeus for having lured Nietzel away from Hartekamp to Uppsala.
Head gardener during the relocation
Lars Broberg, 1764–1795
Lars Broberg was a very skilled head gardener who was greatly appreciated by the Konsistorium. He not only looked after the plants of the garden but also its animals, which included marmosets, cranes, peacocks, parrots, an ostrich and a cassowary. He was succeeded by his son, Gustaf Adolf Broberg, active during the years 1795-1813.