Johann Sperling

Johann Sperling (born July 12, 1603 in Zeuchfeld , † August 12, 1658 in Wittenberg ) was a German medic, zoologist and physicist.

Life

Born as the son of Pastor Paul Sperling and his wife Dorothea, the daughter of Freyburg citizen Paul Kindler, he attended the city school in Laucha . At the age of 12, he moved to the electoral state school Schulpforta in 1615 , which he attended for six years and successfully completed, which enabled him to begin studying at a university. On June 2, 1621, he enrolled at the University of Wittenberg , where, after four years of study at the philosophical faculty , he acquired the degree of master's degree on September 27, 1625 . After receiving his master's degree on October 2, 1628, he had the right to hold lectures at universities.

Initially, Sperling pursued theological studies, but Friedrich Balduin and Erasmus Schmidt advised him to devote himself to medical studies. Under the direction of Daniel Sennert , he completed his medical and physical studies and took part in the technical discussion with Johann Freitag with the treatise physico-medicum de morbis totius substantiae & cognatis materiis pro Sennerto contra Freitagium . He intended to obtain the degree of a licentiate in medicine, but through the death of Georg Wecker he got the professorship of physics, to which he was appointed on February 2, 1634 and on February 12, he was accepted as an adjunct in the philosophical faculty .

Zoologia physica. 2nd edition, Wittenberg, 1669

In his function as professor, he administered the dean's office of the philosophical faculty four times and was twice rector of the Wittenberg University. He suffered from a stone condition that plagued him for two years and from which he eventually died. He was buried on August 15, 1658 in the Wittenberg Castle Church. Johann Sperling, who was honored as an extraordinary representative of physics at the Wittenberg University, defended the corpuscular theory as a pupil of Daniel Sennert and based on Sennert's writings wrote the "Institutiones physicae" which were introduced in most schools in Germany. For the first time in Germany, atomistics was presented in detail in a textbook. His real subject, however, was zoology. The "Zoologia physica", published by Georg Kaspar Kirchmaier after his death, is his main work, the first manual in the form of a compendium to attempt to clearly present the most important information from zoology.

family

On October 11, 1626, he married Elisabeth, the daughter of Wittenberg councilor Peter Müller and the stepdaughter of Wilhelm Nigrinus . This 22-year marriage resulted in six sons and one daughter:

Elisabeth Sperling (died before father)
Johann Nicolaus Sperling (died before his father)
Gottfried Sperling (died before his father)
Johann Paul Sperling
Paul Gottfried Sperling
Paul Christoph Sperling
Daniel Sperling

Selection of works

De orgine formarum, Wittenberg 1634
De morbis totius substantie, Wittenberg 1633
Synopsis physica
Institutiones physicae, Wittenberg 1639 and more
Synopsis anthropologiae
Institutiones anthropologicae
De formatione hominis in utero matris, 1655
Meditationes in Jul. Cael. Scaligeri exercitationes de subtilitate, Wittenberg 1656
De principiis nobiscum natis
Carpologia physica, 1661
Exercitationes physicae
Zoologia physica, Leipzig 1661
Oratio auspicalis de physica lugente, Wittenberg 1634
De coelo, 1637
De uva, musto ac vino, 1642
De leone, aquila, delphino & dracone, quatuor brutorum regibus, 1665
De calido innato, again free days for D. Senner's defense, Leipzig 1666
De traduae, 1648
Defensio tractatus de orgine formarum, Frankfurt 1638
De principiis corporis naturalis
De femine
Antiparasceve pro traduce
Defensio synopsis physicae
Perturbatio calumniatoris contra Zeisoldum
De monsteis, 1655

literature

Heinz Kathe : The Wittenberg Philosophical Faculty 1502–1817 (= Central German Research. Volume 117). Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-412-04402-4 .
Walter Friedensburg : History of the University of Wittenberg. Max Niemeyer, Halle (Saale) 1917
Fritz Roth : Complete evaluations of funeral sermons and personal documents for genealogical and cultural-historical purposes . Volume 10, p. 134, R 9189
Hans Theodor Koch: The Wittenberg Medical Faculty (1502–1652) - A biobibliographical overview . In: Stefan Oehmig: Medicine and social affairs in Central Germany during the Reformation . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-374-02437-7
Wilhelm Heß : Sperling, Joh. In: General German Biography (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, p. 136.
Sperling, Johann. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 38, Leipzig 1743, column 1516-1518.

Web links

Commons : Johann Sperling - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Publications by and about Johann Sperling in VD 17 .

personal data
SURNAME	Sperling, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German medic, zoologist and physicist
DATE OF BIRTH	July 12, 1603
PLACE OF BIRTH	Zeuchfeld
DATE OF DEATH	August 12, 1658
Place of death	Wittenberg