The economist and philosopher Johann Friedrich Penther was born on May 17, 1693, in Fürstenwalde in northeastern Germany. He first studied at the academy for knights founded for Silesian nobility in Liegnitz in Lower Silesia. In 1717, Penther acted as court controller for the sons of the Duke of Haugwitz. He became the secretary for mining in the service of the Duke of Stolberg in 1720 and instructed the Duke's sons in mathematics. Penther subsequently accompanied the imperial captain Duke of Stolberg-Stolberg on his campaign through Silesia to Hungary. In 1729, he returned to the Harz area, where he was named the duke's camberlain and counsel on mining. During his service, he was responsible for the oversight of the manors and state buildings. In the autumn of the founding year of the University of Göttingen in 1736, Penther was appointed ordinary lecturer for house maintenance and economics. He went to the department of philosophy in 1743 and also gave lectures on practical mathematics. To this end he composed his "Praxis geometriae" (1732). Penther also lectured on military architecture at this time. He wrote on this subject as well as on civil architecture. From 1774 until 1775, he was the prorector at the University of Göttingen. Penther died on September 17, 1749, in Göttingen.