**About Olof Rudbeck** Olof Rudbeck the Younger was the son of a distinguished scientist and writer in the fields of anatomy and linguistics of the same name. He carried on the family tradition by distinguishing himself as a pioneer in botany and ornithology and wrote extensively as a linguist. Rudbeckia is a genus of mostly perennial flowering plants that was named in honor of Rudbeck by his former student, the famous "father of modern taxonomy" Carl Linnaeus. The so-called Great Bird Book of Olof Rudbeck the Younger is a work begun c. 1693 but was never published until a facsimile was made in 1985. Rudbeck went on to give a series of ornithological lectures between 1727 and 1731, which were the first of their kind in Sweden. Every page is adorned by full-page illustrations of various birds that are artful and realistic in equal manner.