Education
Originally a student of theology, he attended the Collegium anglicum in Rome, from where he obtained a lower ordination.
Originally a student of theology, he attended the Collegium anglicum in Rome, from where he obtained a lower ordination.
He is known as the "Father of Paleobotany". As of 1820 he was on friendly terms with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In 1805, during an extended stay in Paris, he met with Alexander von Humboldt and came under the influence of a number of French paleontologists and botanists.
Afterwards, he relocated to an estate in Radnice, Bohemia.
Here, he created a botanical garden, and conducted important paleobotanical research at recently opened coal mines located in the surrounding areas. The botanical genus Sternbergia is named in his honor.
Prussian Academy of Sciences. German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]
Inspired by the newly founded Regensburg Botanical Society (1790), he became an avid naturalist, subsequently becoming a prominent member of the society, making contributions to its Botanisches Taschenbuch and also establishing a botanical garden in Regensburg.