Thank God Carl Springsfeld

Gottlob Carl Springsfeld (born July 25, 1714 in Weißenfels , † March 13, 1772 in Vienna ) was a German doctor and scholar.

Life

He was born as the son of the court pharmacist in Weißenfels, the royal seat of the Duchy of Saxony-Weißenfels . After being educated by private teachers, he went to the Pforta State School in 1729 , which he attended until 1733. He then studied medicine at the University of Leipzig , then in Jena and finally again in the trade fair city. Gottlob Carl Springsfeld received his doctorate in 1738 and then settled in his hometown as a general practitioner, later a city physician.

In Leipzig he was close to Johann Christoph Gottsched , with whose enlightenment ideas he occupied himself. From 1750 he corresponded with him frequently.

In 1740 Springsfeld founded the Society of Alethophiles in Weissenfels for the Improvement of the German Language, of which he was secretary for a long time. Two years later, the German Society appointed him its external member.

In 1742 he was appointed court physician to Duke Johann Adolph II of Saxony-Weissenfels . He held this office until his death in 1746 and the associated dissolution of the Duchy of Saxony-Weißenfels and the reversion to the Electorate of Saxony . In 1743 he was also appointed physicist of the Freyburg office (from 1746 in Electoral Saxony).

Due to intrigues at court, his promised appointment to professor of medicine at the University of Wittenberg was dashed .

On March 15, 1750, Gottlieb Karl Springsfeld was accepted into the Leopoldina as a member ( matriculation number 563 ) with the academic surname Stantius .

In 1757 he treated the sick poet Christian Fürchtegott Gellert during his stay in Bonau .

family

From 1745 onwards there were disagreements within his family. He had to take legal action against his mother-in-law Johanna Augusta Leser zu Freyburg for handing over the estate of his late wife Magdalena Regina nee. Raise Zeumer. His descendants became needle manufacturers in Aachen.

literature

• Ingo Bach: Gottlob Carl Springsfeld. Saxon doctor, scholar and academician during the Enlightenment - a biographical sketch . In: Sächsische Heimatblätter 12, 1966, H. 3, S. 143-148.
• Johann Daniel Ferdinand Neigebaur : History of the imperial Leopoldino-Carolinische German academy of natural scientists during the second century of its existence. Friedrich Frommann, Jena 1860, p. 220 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Member entry by Gottlieb Karl Springsfeld at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on March 5, 2017.
2. ↑ Landesarchiv Sachsen-Anhalt : H 44, No. 1280  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Family tree