section_path: History/Pre-Linnaean/Renaissance and early modern
section_name: Renaissance and early modern
paragraph_text: Renaissance and early modern
  
  During the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, categorizing organisms became more prevalent, and taxonomic works became ambitious enough to replace the ancient texts. This is sometimes credited to the development of sophisticated optical lenses, which allowed the morphology of organisms to be studied in much greater detail.
  
  One of the earliest authors to take advantage of this leap in technology was the Italian physician Andrea Cesalpino (1519–1603), who has been called "the first taxonomist". His magnum opus De Plantis came out in 1583, and described more than 1500 plant species. Two large plant families that he first recognized are in use: the Asteraceae and Brassicaceae.
  
  In the 17th century John Ray (England, 1627–1705) wrote many important taxonomic works. Arguably his greatest accomplishment was Methodus Plantarum Nova (1682), in which he published details of over 18,000 plant species. At the time, his classifications were perhaps the most complex yet produced by any taxonomist, as he based his taxa on many combined characters.
  
  The next major taxonomic works were produced by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (France, 1656–1708). His work from 1700, Institutiones Rei Herbariae, included more than 9000 species in 698 genera, which directly influenced Linnaeus, as it was the text he used as a young student.