Johann Bernhard Basedow (11 September 1724 – 25 July 1790) was a German educational reformer, teacher and writer. He founded the Philanthropinum, a short-lived but influential progressive school in Dessau, and was the author of "Elementarwerk", a popular illustrated textbook for children. Early life Basedow was born in Hamburg, the son of a wigmaker. His father (Heinrich Basedau) has been described as "severe almost to brutality", and his mother, Anna Maria Leonhard, as suffering from "melancholy almost to madness", which made his childhood a less than happy one. It was planned that he should follow his father's profession, but, at the age of 14, he ran away from home, finding employment as a servant of a country physician in Holstein. His employer recognized Johann's extraordinary intellectual gifts and sent him back home to his parents with a letter which persuaded them to allow their son to be schooled at the Johanneum in Hamburg. Here, Johann came under the influence of the rationalist H.S. Reimarus (1694–1768), author of the famous Wolfenbütteler Fragmente, published by Lessing. In 1744, Basedow went to the University of Leipzig as a student of theology, but turned instead to the study of philosophy, being particularly influenced by Wolff's "Philosophy of Reason". This made him examine his own Christian faith, arriving at a position that was "in a centre between Christianism and naturalism". Thus, he rejected his clerical vocation and turned instead to radicalism and reformism. He was the grandfather of Karl Adolph von Basedow. Teacher and academic Between 1749 and 1753, Basedow was a private tutor to the son of Herr von Quaalen, a nobleman living in Borghorst, Holstein. He developed new teaching methods based on conversation and play with the child, and a program of physical development. Such was his success that he wrote a treatise on his methods, "On the best and hitherto unknown method of teaching children of noblemen", which he presented to the University of Kiel in 1752, and obtained the degree of Master of Arts. In 1753, he was appointed professor of moral philosophy and belles-lettres at Sorø Academy in Denmark. He proved to be a very popular teacher and was also called on to lecture on Theology. However, his fearless, anti-establishment views and the publication of a book in 1758, "Practische Philosophie" ("Practical Philosophy"), in which he expounded his unorthodox religious position, led, in 1761, to his removal from this post