Peter Artedi or Petrus Arctaedius (27 February 170528 September 1735) was a Swedish naturalist who is known as the "father of

ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish ( Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish ( Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Oct ...

". Artedi was born in Anundsjö in the province of

Ångermanland Ångermanland ( or ) is a historical province (''landskap'') in the northern part of Sweden. It is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Swedish Lapland, Västerbotten, the Gulf of Bothnia, Medelpad and Jämtland. The name is derived from ...

. Intending to become a

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, he went after schooling in Harnosand, in 1724, to study

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

, but he turned his attention to

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

and natural history, especially

, a science that he influenced greatly. In 1728 his countryman

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...

arrived in Uppsala, and a lasting friendship was formed between the two from 1729 (as Artedi was away due to the death of his father). In 1732 both left Uppsala, Artedi for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, and Linnaeus for Lappland; before parting they reciprocally bequeathed to each other their manuscripts and books in the event of death. In 1734 Artedi visited England, mentioning a whale in London in November downstream of the London Bridge, and a meeting with

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

. Artedi left London in summer 1735 and met Linnaeus in Leiden. Artedi was short of money and Linnaeus introduced him to Albertus Seba, a wealthy Dutchman, who had formed what was perhaps the richest museum of his time in Amsterdam. Seba employed Artedi to write descriptions of fishes for his Thesaurus. On the night of 27 September, while returning from Seba's home to his lodgings, he accidentally fell and drowned in a canal. His body was found the next day. Linnaeus heard of the death through Claudius Sohlberg two days later and rushed to Amsterdam. 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 Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

in 1738 under the title ''Ichthyologia sive opera omnia de piscibus ...''. Artedi was buried in a pauper's grave in St Anthony's churchyard in Amsterdam on 2 October 1735. His grave was never marked and the churchyard site has since been appropriated for other purposes. An

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

, written in Latin by

Anders Celsius Anders Celsius (; 27 November 170125 April 1744) was a Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician. He was professor of astronomy at Uppsala University from 1730 to 1744, but traveled from 1732 to 1735 visiting notable observatories in Germ ...

, and translated into English by George Shaw, is known because it was inscribed on the back flyleaf of Linnaeus's own copy of ''Ichthyologia'': A memorial stone to Peter Artedi was erected in Amsterdam Zoological Gardens and unveiled on 28 June 1905; it is inscribed in Latin. Other stone memorials are in Anundsjö and Nordmaling in Sweden. Linnaeus named ''

Artedia ''Artedia'' is a genus of flowering plant in the Apiaceae. Its only species is ''Artedia squamata'', native to Cyprus, Western Asia and the Transcaucasus. Carl Linnaeus named the species after his friend, the naturalist Peter Artedi Peter Arte ...

''Hortus cliffortianus (1738): p. 89; Species plantarum (1753): 242 (Apiaceae), a monotypic genus from the eastern Mediterranean, after his friend.

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Further reading