Joseph Stepling (29 June 1716 – 11 July 1778) was a

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest, astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. Stepling founded the

Clementinum The Clementinum () is a historic complex of buildings in Prague which houses the National Library of the Czech Republic. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries; the City Library was also nearby on M ...

Observatory in Prague in 1751 fitted with the best instruments available in that period, some made by Jan Klein. The earliest instrumental meteorological observations in central Europe were made at this observatory. The minor planet 6540 Stepling is named in his honour. Stepling was born in

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

and after the death of his father who came from Westphalia and worked at the Imperial Embassy at

Ratisbon Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state. With m ...

, his mother moved to her home in Prague. He attended the local Jesuit school and joined the order in 1733. He took an interest in mathematics and astronomy from the teachings of Father Sykora and took a special interest during the lunar eclipse of March 28, 1733 which he had been able to predict. He was influenced into further studies by the mathematician

Ignatz Mühlwenzel Ignatz Heinrich Mühlwenzel (c. 1690 – 11 July 1766) was a Bohemian mathematician. Life Ignatz Heinrich Mühlwenzel (referred to in ''Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich'' as ''Heinrich Mühlwenzel'')''Biographisches Lexiko ...

. He taught at the Gymnasiums of Klodzko and Swidnica from 1738 to 1741. Empress Maria Theresa appointed him faculty at Prague. In 1753 he taught mathematics and physics at the

Charles-Ferdinand University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

, following the ideas of

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

, Christian Wolff, and Euler rather than Aristotle. He founded a study group along the lines of the Royal Society of London and conducted monthly meetings presiding over them until his death and influencing numerous young scientists including Johann Wendlingen, Jakob Heinisch, Antonin Strnad, Johannes von Herberstein, Kaspar Sagner, Stephan Schmidt, Johann Körber, and Joseph Bergmann. Some of the oldest series of temperatures used in climate change studies come from the Clementinum observatory.

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Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stepling, Joseph 1716 births 1778 deaths 18th-century mathematicians from the Holy Roman Empire Czech astronomers Academic staff of Charles University Jesuit scientists