Joseph Stepling

Joseph Stepling, engraving by Johann Balzer (1776)

Ignaz Franz Platzer - Stepling's monument in the Clementinum .

Joseph Stepling (born June 29, 1716 in Regensburg , † July 11, 1778 in Prague ) was a German-Bohemian scholar of the 18th century.

Life

Joseph Stepling attended the Jesuit school and under the influence of the private tutor, math and science became his favorite subjects. In 1733 he entered the Jesuit order and studied in Olomouc , Glatz and Prague . Here he was also taught by Ignatz Mühlwenzel, among others . In 1743 he finished his studies in theology and after his ordination he taught the novices in mathematics and physics . In 1748 he gave up the professorship because he refused to teach according to the teachings of Aristotle .

At his request, an observatory was set up in the Jesuit College Clementinum in Prague in 1751 , which he directed as director. When the study guidelines were corrected in 1753, Stepling returned as director of mathematics and physics at the college. He now taught the theories of Isaac Newton , Christian Wolff, and Leonhard Euler . He stayed at the college even after the Jesuit order was dissolved in 1773.

The asteroid (6540) Stepling was named after him.

Works

Illustration from De actione solis in diversis latitudinis ... by Joseph Stepling, published in Acta Eruditorum , 1750

Joseph Stepling is the author of a number of Latin scripts, some of which have been translated into German . After 1748 he measured Prague geographically several times . In 1752 he introduced regular meteorological observations in the Clementinum. In 1770 he was one of the founders of the learned society in Prague . His scientific work was mainly focused on astronomy . He studied the aberration of the stars, the tilt of the earth's axis and other things. In 1775 he also took geophysical measurements.

Publications

• Liber II. Euclidis algebraicae demonstratus (1756)
• Miscellanea philosophica tam mathematica quam physica (1759, 1763)
• Differentiarum minimarum quantitatum variantium calculus directus vulgo differentialis (1765).

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Stepling, Joseph . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 38th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1879, pp. 227–231 ( digitized version ).
• Siegmund Günther :  Stepling, Joseph . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 36, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, p. 102 f.

Web links

Commons : Joseph Stepling  - album with pictures, videos and audio files