Christian Gottlieb Friedrich Stöwe

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Christian Gottlieb Friedrich Stöwe (born November 8, 1756 in Werneuchen , † June 3, 1824 in Potsdam ) was a German Protestant clergyman and astronomer .

Life

Christian Gottlieb Friedrich Stöwe was the son of master shoemaker Friedrich Gottlieb Stöwe (born March 5, 1732 in Werneuchen; † before 1811) and his wife Dorothea Sophia (born May 17, 1735; † unknown), daughter of Johann Friedrich Witte (1714–1749 ). His sister was:

  • Sophie Wilhelmine Stöwe (* around 1767; January 1, 1832 in Berlin), first married to Christian Wilhelm Hoffmann (1756–1806), teacher and second marriage to Carl Heinrich Philipp Dörry (1788–1840), school principal in Rheinsberg.

education

While still a child, his parents moved to Berlin and he attended one of the local district schools and received elementary instruction. He received his confirmation lessons from the later senior consistorial councilor Theodor Karl Georg Woltersdorf (1727–1806), who recognized the boy's mental faculties and supported and encouraged him in his desire to study. With his support, Christian Gottlieb Friedrich Stöwe was able to receive further lessons from Rector Anton Friedrich Büsching at the Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster . He developed a great interest in languages ​​as well as mathematics and physics .

In 1774 he began to give private lessons and was able to improve his economic situation. He also joined a singing choir and was soon transferred to lead it.

With the support of several scholarships , which he owed to the rector Anton Friedrich Büsching, he was able to enroll on December 20, 1778 to study theology at the University of Halle . He attended the lectures of Johann August Nösselt , Johann Salomo Semler , Georg Christian Knapp , Johann Peter Eberhard and Johann Ludwig Schulze . In addition to his studies, he also gave lessons in languages, geography, mathematics and philosophy in the upper classes of the Latin school of the Halle orphanage and received a free apartment and free table for this .

Activity as a teacher

After two years of study, he left the university in 1780 and took over the teaching position offered to him at the pedagogy of the royal secondary school in Berlin. Until 1784 he taught in Latin, religious studies, mathematics, natural science, logic, philosophy and its history, mathematics and astronomy.

In astronomy he also examined the influence of the celestial bodies on meteorological phenomena. He was a daily observer of the weather conditions and the barometer reading and he collected news from different parts of the world on this topic. He also tried to understand chemical processes through physical experiments and to deduce the large through calculations from the small. He was also in contact with the editor of the astronomical yearbook and director of the Berlin observatory, Johann Elert Bode , who asked him to continue with his investigations. He tried to explain the atmospheric phenomena from the constellations by making tabular calculations of the respective status of the various planets in the month of the year .

On January 11, 1781 he received permission to preach from the senior consistory and in 1784 he was asked to work as a pastor in the communities of Beiersdorf and Schönefeld near Bernau ; for this he received permission on February 26, 1784 and therefore left his job as a teacher.

Activity as pastor and superintendent

In Beiersdorf he continued his meteorological observations and investigations and published his observations in announcement of a generally interesting physical discovery . In this publication he announced that he was encouraged to do more intensive research by Abbot Joseph Toaldo's theory of weathering for field cultivation , in which it is mentioned that the changes in weather would depend on the influence of the planets and the stars. As a result, he found that the sun, the moon and the planets of the solar system in certain constellations are the cause of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, storms, hurricanes, thunderstorms, cloudbursts, hailstones, northern lights, fireballs and other natural events and can do so for the period of 1780 to 1786 with various writings that he had collected. In the following year there was an explanation of the constellations or positions of the heavenly bodies which cause earthquakes, volcanoes, thunderstorms, etc. and all kinds of weather phenomena . In this book he developed his theory of the constellations of the planets and their effects on meteorology. In order to defend the criticism and objections against his theory, he published Meteorological Oddities in 1792 . He saw himself achieved in his goal of awakening an interest in this topic in many and making observations himself.

At his request, he was given the second position of preacher in the St. Nicolaikirche in Potsdam in 1796 and here too he continued to work intensively on his studies in meteorology. In the course of time, however, he noticed that he received a lack of encouragement and support and refrained from further expensive printing, but only published on a private basis.

In 1804 he was appointed senior pastor and superintendent in his community . As a pastor there were up to 10,000 souls in his congregation and on Sundays he preached in the city and in two branch churches. As superintendent he led twenty preachers and fifty school teachers in his diocese of fifty villages, was Ephorus of the grammar school, overseer of the town schools, a member of the school commission and the royal poor directorate, and vice-president of the Bible Society . In addition, there was the accounting of two preacher's widow's funds, the collecting of the collection money, the contributions to the school teacher widow's fund and the spread of the Bible, and the preparation of population lists and other lists and tables.

On September 14, 1784 Christian Gottlieb Friedrich Stöwe married Marie Henriette (* 1760; † unknown) in Beiersdorf, daughter of the merchant and head of the church Johann Christian Hoppe from Berlin. They had several children together.

Fonts (selection)

Literature (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pedigree Christian Gottlieb Friedrich Stöwe. Rainer Dörry, accessed on July 16, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Stöwe, Christian Gottlieb Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stöwe, CGF; Stöwe, Christian GF
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant clergyman and astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH November 8, 1756
PLACE OF BIRTH Werneuchen
DATE OF DEATH June 3, 1824
Place of death Potsdam