Kilian Stobæus

Kilian Stobæus (6 February 1690 – 17 February 1742) was a Swedish physician, natural scientist, and historian. He offered a young Carl Linnaeus tutoring and lodging, as well as the use of his library, which included many books about botany. He also gave the student free admission to his lectures. In his spare time, Linnaeus explored the flora of Scania together with students sharing the same interests.

Life Stobæus was born 6 February 1690 in Vinslöv, Sweden. He was the son of Nils Stobæus and nephew of professor . Although he was born in the province of Scania, Stobæus grew up with an uncle in Gothenburg. In 1725 he married Florentina Schubert, the daughter of a hat maker in Lund. Stobæus died 17 February 1742 in Lund.

Medical career In 1709 he became a student at Lund University, where he was promoted to doctor of medicine in 1721. Johan Jacob Döbelius was his mentor there. In December of the same year he was appointed to lead Döbelius' professorship, which he did until the end of 1723. In 1724, he became city physician in Gothenburg, but the following year he returned to Lund at the request of the Scanian nobility and the magistrate in Malmö and on the guarantee of an annual fee. As a doctor he provided free medication to the ill and poor.

As a teacher, writer and collector, Stobæus was very prominent, and with the exception of , none of his contemporary university professors enjoyed the same public esteem and undivided reverence. He was not only, from the scientific point of view of his time, an excellent physician and scientist, but also distinguished himself personally by his rectitude and seriousness. Stobæus knew very well how to arouse in his disciples a desire for scientific work by approaching them personally and showing them the paths of study and research. In his private residence in Lund, he provided free accommodation for a large number of promising students, including the young Carl Linnaeus, who was granted free access to Stobæus' impressive private library. Among Stobæus' other students and disciples were Nils Rosén von Rosenstein, Johan Leche and Sven Lagerbring.

Research In the natural sciences, Stobæus was particularly interested in the study of fossils.

Authorship Stobæus published a large number of scientific publications, partly in the form of dissertations, partly in the series . The most important of these were collected and reprinted in 1752–1753 in Danzig under the title . In addition, several unprinted writings by Stobæus are kept in the Lund University Library.

Student nation activity As a student, Stobæus had belonged to the student nation and was also its in 1717. As a professor, however, he spent the last years of his life (1739–1742) as inspektor of the .

In 1906, a bust of Stobæus (sculpted by Walter Runeberg) was erected on the university square in Lund. This now forms, every year on the first of May, the meeting point for a student society, the Kilian & C:o Orden. One of the sons of Stobæus' cousin, by the same name – (1717–1792) – also became a professor in Lund in obstetrics.