Ahlwardt, Peter

Peter Alwahrdt was born in Greifswald on 14 Februar 1710 the son of a shoemaker, a member of a bourgeois family of the island that had given a number of professors to the local university (founded in 1456). After studying in Greifswald’s Rathsschule, Ahlwardt was immatriculated at the University of Greifswald in 1727. Although his original goal was to graduate in theology, Ahlwardt preferred to focus on philosophy instead. He studied under the direction of Johann Lembke and Heinrich Brandanus Gebhardi. After completion of the obligatory six semesters, in 1730 he moved to the University of Jena in order to take courses with Georg Erhard Hamberger, Johann Bernhard Wiedeburg, and Johann Georg Walch. He also took courses at Jena’s juridical and medical faculties. In 1732 he came back to Greifswald, where he received his doctorate and master in philosophy and started teaching philosophy and mathematics as a Privatdozent at the University. In 1742 he became there an Adjunctprofessor and in 1752 an Ordinarius of philosophy. He died in Greifswald on 1 March 1791.