Gotthilf Heinrich Schubert
Gotthilf Heinrich Schubert was a notable German scholar born in 1780 in Hohenstein, Saxony. He grew up in a religious household, displaying an early fascination with nature and science, which led him to conduct various experiments and collect natural specimens. After studying at the prestigious humanistic academy in Weimar, he pursued theology and medicine, eventually earning a doctoral degree in 1803. Schubert's early career included a brief stint in medicine and a foray into literature, though he later transitioned to academia.
He became a prominent figure in the Romantic scientific community, particularly recognized for his successful lectures on natural sciences, which were published in 1808 as "Ansichten von der Nachtseite der Naturwissenschaft." Schubert faced personal tragedies, including the death of his first wife, but later remarried and continued his academic pursuits. He held various teaching positions, ultimately becoming a professor of natural history.
In 1830, he published "Die Geschichte der Seele," where he explored spiritual themes. Upon retiring in 1853, he dedicated his time to writing autobiographical works and focused on Christian education for younger audiences. Schubert passed away in 1860, leaving behind a rich legacy of scientific inquiry and literary contributions.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Gotthilf Heinrich Schubert
Writer
- Born: April 26, 1780
- Birthplace: Hohenstein, Saxony, Germany
- Died: July 1, 1860
- Place of death: Munich, Germany
Biography
Gotthilf Heinrich Schubert was born in 1780 in Hohenstein, Saxony, Germany, the son of pastor Christian Gottlob Schubert and Magdalena Werner Schubert. Schubert spent his childhood in the small town of Hohenstein, captivated both by religious studies and by nature. The determined young boy engaged in risky scientific experiments, collected rocks and animal skeletons, and even tried to write a book about whaling. He attended a gymnasium in Greiz briefly before convincing his father to send him to the demanding humanistic academy in Weimar in 1796. There, the teenaged Schubert found a mentor in Johann Gottfried Herder, the school’s head examiner, and a lifelong friend in Herder’s son, Emil. Schubert became known for his compassion and kindness, and he began displaying these attributes in youth. At seventeen, he met another teenager who, though intelligent, was impoverished, the son of a weaver who could not pay the Weimar school’s tuition. Schubert made the boy his roommate and shared his allowance with him for the rest of their schooling at Weimar.
After finishing at Weimar in 1799, Schubert studied theology and medicine in Leipzig and then attended the university in Jena, beginning his studies there in 1801. He finished his doctoral degree in 1803 and in that year fell in love with and married Henriette Martin, a friend of his sister. The couple settled in Altenburg, where Schubert opened a medical practice and for supplemental income contributed writings to Medizinische Annalen. He also wrote a novel, Die Kirche und die Götter, in only three weeks. However, he was not proud of this novel when his literary career progressed in later years.
Schubert left the medical profession in 1805 to pursue academia and moved to Freiburg for further studies, attending lectures on geology and mineralogy in Freiburg and on animal magnetism, clairvoyance, and dreams in Dresden. In the latter city, Schubert befriended Heinrich von Kleist, Adam Müller, and Karl August Böttiger, key players in the publication of the journal Phöbus, who convinced Schubert to give a series of lectures to Dresden students in the winter semester of 1807 and 1808. The lectures about the natural sciences were surprisingly successful, and Schubert published the lectures in 1808 as Ansichten von der Nachtseite der Naturwissenschaft to wide acclaim and many translations. Schubert earned a reputation as a leading Romantic scientist.
In 1807, the Schuberts had a daughter, Selma, and they adopted the orphaned two-year-old daughter of a deceased friend three years later. Sadly, Henriette, Schubert’s wife, died in 1812, which devastated the scholar. While visiting her parents the following year, Schubert met Henriette’s niece, Julie, and the two fell in love and were married several months later. Schubert accepted the directorship of a secondary school in Nuremberg in 1809, declining professorial positions in philosophy in Berlin and Vienna. When the school closed in 1816, Schubert became tutor to the children of the grand duke of Mecklenburg- Schwerin until receiving an offer to be a professor of natural history at Erlangen. His last academic position was in Munich, where he was a professor of general natural history.
In 1830, Schubert published what he considered his finest scholarly work, Die Geschichte der Seele, an exploration of humankind’s spiritual nature and destiny. When he retired from teaching in 1853, Schubert was named a Geheimrat, or privy councilor, and he devoted his time to a three-volume autobiography, Der Erwerb aus einem vergangenen und die Erwartungen von einem zuküftigen Leben, and to works on Christian education, including many for young readers. Throughout the years, Schubert published numerous travel accounts in addition to his scientific and religious works. He died in 1860.