Johann Sturm Explained

Johann Sturm should not be confused with Johannes Sturm.

Johann Sturm
Birth Date:	1635 11, df=y
Birth Place:	Hilpoltstein
Death Place:	Altdorf bei Nürnberg
Nationality:	German
Occupation:	Philosopher

Johann Christoph Sturm (3 November 1635 – 26 December 1703)^[1] was a German philosopher, professor at University of Altdorf and founder of a short-lived scientific academy known as the Collegium Curiosum, based on the model of the Florentine Accademia del Cimento.^[2] He edited two volumes of the academy's proceedings under the title Collegium Experimentale (1676 and 1685).^[2] In 1670, he translated the works of Archimedes into German.^[1]

Sturm is the author of Physica Electiva (1697), a book that criticized Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and prompted him to publish a rebuke. Sturm's critique was aimed at Leibniz's view that Nature and/or its constituent parts possess some creative force of their own. This criticism was partly theological, in that Sturm claimed Leibniz's view of Nature undermined the sovereignty of the Christian God.^[3]

Works

• Collegium experimentale, Nuremberg: Endter, vol. 1 (1676), available here and here; vol. 2 (1685) available here, here, and here.
• Physica electiva sive hypothetica, vol 1, Nuremberg: Endter, 1697, available here and here; vol.2, Altdorf: Kohles, 1698.

As well as the following: ^[4]

• Mathesis Juvenilis
• Physica Modernae Compendium
• Praelectiones Academicae
• A list of works by Sturm with links to online versions is available at Astronomie in Nürnberg, section "Ausgewählte Werke".

Further reading

• Ahnert, Thomas (2002), The Culture of Experimentalism in the Holy Roman Empire: Johann Christoph Sturm (1635-1703) and the Collegium Experimentale http://sammelpunkt.philo.at/308/ .
• Wiesenfeldt, Gerhard, "Speculative and Experimental Philosophy in Universities: Eclecticism ", Early Modern Experimental Philosophy, 6 December 2010.
• A philosophical and mathematical dictionary by Charles Hutton^[5]
• The Biographical Treasury by Samuel Maunder^[6]
• John Gorton's General Biographical Dictionary^[7]
• Alexander Chalmers' General Biographical Dictionary^[4]

Notes and References

1. Book: A New and General Biographical Dictionary. Tooke, W.. Beloe, W.. Nares, R.. 1798. G. G. and J. Robinson. 221.
2. Encyclopedia: 1930 . Academies: Scientific Academies . Encyclopaedia Britannica . 14. 1. 81 . en.
3. Gottfried Leibniz, Philosophical Papers and Letters, ed. by Leroy Loemker, (Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing, 1969) 499-508.
4. Book: The General Biographical Dictionary: Containing an Hist. and Crit. Account of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Persons in Every Nation; Particularly the British and Irish; from the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time. Sim - Sty. Chalmers, A.. 1816. 28. Nichols. 495. 2017-01-08.
5. Web site: Archimedes Project. archimedes.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de. 2017-01-08.
6. Book: The biographical treasury: a dictionary of universal biography. Maunder, S.. 1838. Longman. 2017-01-08.
7. Book: A General Biographical Dictionary. Gorton, J.. 1838. 3. Whittaker and Company. 2017-01-08.