 On August 15, 1669 Sturm was offered a position as professor of mathematics and physics at the University of Altdorf, which he took over from Abdias Trew (1597–1669). Sturm held this position until his death in 1703. His most famous students were the Swiss polyhistor Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672–1733); Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr (1671–1750), a German mathematician, natural philosopher and encyclopedist; Johann Heinrich Müller (1671–1731), one of Sturm’s successors to the chair of mathematics and physics at the University of Altdorf; Martin Knorre (1657–1699); and Georg Albrecht Hamberger (1662–1716), a teacher of Christian Wolff (1679–1754). Besides his professorship, Sturm was twice the rector of the University of Altdorf, and nine times the dean of the faculty of philosophy.