Johann Sturm

Johann Sturm
Born(1635-11-03)3 November 1635
Died26 December 1703(1703-12-26) (aged 68)
NationalityGerman
OccupationPhilosopher

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]

  1. ^ a b Tooke, W.; Beloe, W.; Nares, R. (1798). A New and General Biographical Dictionary. G. G. and J. Robinson. p. 221.
  2. ^ a b "Academies: Scientific Academies". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vol. 1 (14 ed.). 1930. p. 81.
  3. ^ Gottfried Leibniz, Philosophical Papers and Letters, ed. by Leroy Loemker, (Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing, 1969) 499-508.