Georg Ernst Stahl
| Georg Ernst Stahl | |
|---|---|
Georg Ernst Stahl
|
|
| Born |
22 October 1659 Ansbach |
| Died |
24 May 1734 (aged 74) Berlin |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | University of Halle |
| Alma mater | University of Jena |
| Known for |
Phlogiston theory Fermentation |
| Influences | J. J. Becher |
Georg Ernst Stahl (22 October 1659 – 24 May 1734) was a German chemist, physician and philosopher. He was a supporter of vitalism, and until the late 18th century his works on phlogiston were accepted as an explanation for chemical processes.
He was born in St. John's Parish in Ansbach, Brandenburg on October 21, 1659. His father was Johann Lorentz Stahl. He was raised in Pietism, which influenced his viewpoints on the world. His interests in chemistry were due to the influence a professor of medicine, Jacob Barner, and a chemist, Johann Kunckel von Löwenstjern. In the late 1670s, Stahl moved to Saxe-Jena to study medicine at the University of Jena. Stahl’s success at Jena earned him a M.D. around 1683 and then he went on to teach at the same university.
Teaching at the university gained him such a good reputation that in 1687 he was hired as the personal physician to Duke Johann Ernst of Sachsen-Weimar. In 1693, he joined his old college friend Friedrich Hoffmann at the University of Halle. In 1694, he held the chair of medicine at the University of Halle. From 1715 until his death, he was the physician and counselor to King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and in charge of Berlin's Medical Board. He had two wives, who had died from puerperal fever in 1696 and 1706. He also had a son Johnathan and a daughter who died in 1708.
Stahl's focus was on the distinction between the living and nonliving. Although he did not support the views of iatro-mechanists, he believed that all non-living creatures are mechanical and so are living things to a certain degree. His views were that nonliving things are stable throughout time and did not rapidly change. On the other hand, living things are subject to change and have a tendency to decompose, which led Stahl to work with fermentation.
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