Gottfried Achenwall facts for kids

Gottfried Achenwall (born October 20, 1719 – died May 1, 1772) was a smart German thinker. He was a philosopher, historian, and economist. He also studied law and was a statistician. Many people see him as one of the inventors of statistics.

Gottfried Achenwall's Life Story

Gottfried Achenwall was born in a town called Elbing. This town is now known as Elbląg in Poland. It was part of Royal Prussia back then.

Early Studies and Career

Starting in 1738, Gottfried went to many universities. He studied at Jena, Halle, and Leipzig. From 1743 to 1746, he worked as a controller in Dresden.

In 1746, he earned his master's degree from Leipzig. After that, he moved to Marburg. There, he became an assistant professor. He taught subjects like history, statistics, and law.

Professor at Göttingen

In 1748, Gottfried Achenwall was invited to the University of Göttingen. He became a special professor of philosophy. By 1753, he was a special professor of law and a regular professor of philosophy. In 1761, he changed his focus again. He became a professor of natural law and politics. The next year, in 1762, he earned his doctorate in both laws.

Travels and Later Life

In 1765, Achenwall became a court counsellor. This meant he advised the Royal British and Hanoverian courts. With money from King George III, he traveled a lot. In 1751, he visited Switzerland and France. In 1759, he went to Holland and England. He passed away in Göttingen when he was 52 years old.

Achenwall's Big Ideas and Statistics

Gottfried Achenwall is most famous for his work in statistics. Statistics is about collecting and understanding data. He helped make it a more important field of study.

Economics and Staatsverfassung

In economics, he was part of a group called "moderate mercantilists." This was a way of thinking about how countries could become rich.

His most well-known book is Staatsverfassung der Europäischen Reiche im Grundrisse. This title means Constitution of the Present Leading European States. It was published in 1752. In this book, he looked at how different European countries were set up. He described their farming, factories, and trade. He often included numbers and facts about these topics.

The "Father of Statistics" Debate

Some German thinkers called him the "Father of Statistics." However, some English writers disagreed. They said that people like William Petty had written about statistics even earlier.

Achenwall also made the term Staatswissenschaft popular. This German word means "politics" or "state knowledge." He believed it should include all the information a leader needs to govern a country well.