Ernst Friedrich Apelt (3 March 1812 in Reichenau, Saxony – 27 October 1859 in Oppelsdorf, Upper Lusatia, Saxony) was a German philosopher and entrepreneur.
Apelt graduated from secondary school in Zittau and entered the University of Jena in 1831. He then continued his studies at the University of Leipzig. He received his doctorate in 1835 and four years later completed his habilitation in Jena. He taught there from 1840 and became a full professor in 1856.[1] [2]
Apelt was a student of Jakob Friedrich Fries,[3] succeeding him at the University of Jena. He was the principal contributor to the Abhandlungen der Fries'sche Schule, which he founded with Matthias Jakob Schleiden.[4]
He was also one of the early scholars of the life and work of Johannes Kepler, a precursor of Alexandre Koyré.[5] His son Otto Friedrich Apelt made important contributions to the debate on the nature of the categories of Aristotle.[6]