Juncker, Johann

1. Dates
Born: Londorf, near Giessen, 23 Dec 1679
Died: Halle, 25 Oct 1759
Dateinfo: Dates Certain
Lifespan: 80
2. Father
Occupation: Unknown
Juncker was born into modest circumstances as the 5th of 12 children. His father was Johann Ludwig Juncker.
No adequate information on financial status, though "modest circumstances" may well mean "poor."
3. Nationality
Birth: Londorf, near Giessen, Germany
Career: Halle, Germany
Death: Halle, Germany
4. Education
Schooling: Marburg; Halle; Erfuhrt, M.D.
He received his primary education at the Pädagogium, a boarding school near Giessen.
1696, at the University of Marburg studying philosophy.
1697, at the University of Halle studying theology and following a program in literature under the classicist Christopher Cellarius.
1707, he went to Erfurt for a short time to study medicine. He received his M.D. in 1718. That date for the M.D. (could it be a typo, for 1708?) causes problems, but in view of his entire career I am letting it stand.
5. Religion
Affiliation: Lutheran
6. Scientific Disciplines
Primary: Chemistry, Medicine
7. Means of Support
Primary: Medicine, Academia, Personal Means
Secondary: Schoolmastering, Government
1701-1702, & 1707, taught at the Pädagogium in Halle.
He evidently worked as a private tutor in the principality of Waldeck. This brought him into contact with the 13-year- older countess of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Charlotte Sophie (1667- 1723), whom he married in 1707. He then lived in Schwarzenau (in the county of Wittgenstein) with her, working as a physician. I certainly assume that this marriage, and two subsequent ones, brought personal means with them.
1716, he returned to Halle. 1717, he became physician to the Royal Pedagagical Institute and Orphanage in Halle, a kind of training hospital.
1729, he became professor of medicine at the University of Halle. He was also rector twice.
He was eventually appointed Prussian privy councillor.
8. Patronage
Type: Unknown
I have found no evidence of patronage, though I feel that some must exist. The positions he managed to obtain seem to demand it.
Some measure of Juncker's rise from a lowly family to privy councillor can be gauged from the women he married:
1. 1707, Charlotte Sophie, abbess of the protestant Stift at Schaaken, daughter of Count Christian Ludwig von Waldeck- Wildungen.
2. 1725, Joh. Elisabeth, daughter of Johann Philipp Lichtenberg, administrator (Amtsvertreter) of Jägersburg and criminal judge (Zentgraf) at Biebesheim.
3. 1727, Christiane Eleonore, daughter of the Saxon Oberst Phillip Wilhelm von Bamsdorff.
9. Technological Involvement
Type: Medical Practice
He practiced medicine during most, if not all, of his career.
10. Scientific Societies
Memberships: None known
Sources
  1. A. Hirsch, Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, 14, 692.
  2. Hans-Heinz Eulner, Neue deutsche Biographie (Berlin, 1952- ), 10, 661a-2b.
Compiled by:
Richard S. Westfall
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Indiana University

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