Michael Alberti (13 November 1682 – 17 May 1757) was a German

pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life. Although the movement is ali ...

physician and theologian. Alberti became an ardent follower of Stahl's school of medical theory which considered the soul as having control on the body. Therapies involved dealing with the internal senses and feelings. Along with his students he produced nearly 300 dissertations.

Life and work

Alberti was born in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

where his father Paul Martin was Protestant preacher. A brother Paul Martin (d. 1729) served as Archdeacon of Hersbruck while another, August (d. 1738) served as Archdeacon of St. Lorenz. Alberti also trained for the clergy at Altdorf and in 1701 he published ''Modum dirigendi omnes actiones nostras ad gloriam Dei'' ("The Way to Direct All Our Actions to the Glory of God"). He then moved to

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

where he studied medicine and was influenced by Georg Wolfgang Wedel, the teacher of

Georg Ernst Stahl Georg Ernst Stahl (22 October 1659Stahl's date of birth is often given erroneously as 1660. The correct date is recorded in the parish register of St. John's church, Ansbach. See – 24 May 1734) was a German chemist, physician and philosopher. ...

. Stahl's teaching contrasted the iatromechanistic approaches that were in their infancy at the time. Stahl emphasized a holistic approach to body and soul and Stahlian medicine emphasised the soul as having control on the body. Alberti became an ardent follower of Stahl and received a doctorate in 1704. Several of his works dealt with the topics of longevity, particularly the vitalist medical model that opposed the Cartesian iatromechanical model developed by

Friedrich Hoffmann Friedrich Hoffmann or Hofmann (19 February 1660 – 12 November 1742) was a German physician and chemist. He is also sometimes known in English as Frederick Hoffmann. Life His family had been connected with medicine for 200 years before him. Bo ...

and

Herman Boerhaave Herman Boerhaave (, 31 December 1668 – 23 September 1738Underwood, E. Ashworth. "Boerhaave After Three Hundred Years." ''The British Medical Journal'' 4, no. 5634 (1968): 820–25. .) was a Dutch chemist, botanist, Christian humanist, and ph ...

. In 1710 he became an associate professor of medicine and became a full professor at Halle in 1716 just as Stahl moved to Berlin to serve as physician to Prussian King Frederick William I. Here he supervised more than 300 dissertations on medical topics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alberti, Michael 1682 births 1757 deaths 18th-century German physicians