Johann Sturm

Not to be confused with Johannes Sturm.

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]

Johann Sturm
Born	(1635-11-03)3 November 1635 Hilpoltstein
Died	26 December 1703(1703-12-26) (aged 68) Altdorf bei Nürnberg
Nationality	German
Occupation	Philosopher

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".

• 
  Illustratiom from Excerpta ex literis... published in Acta Eruditorum, 1690
• 
  Physica electiva sive hypothetica

Further reading

• Ahnert, Thomas (2002), The Culture of Experimentalism in the Holy Roman Empire: Johann Christoph Sturm (1635-1703) and the Collegium Experimentale Archived 2020-06-06 at the Wayback Machine.
• Wiesenfeldt, Gerhard, "Speculative and Experimental Philosophy in Universities: Eclecticism Archived 2011-08-09 at the Wayback Machine", 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]