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

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.