GOTTFRIED ACHENWALL (1719-1772), German statistician, was born at Elbing, in East Prussia, in October 1719. He studied at Jena, Halle and Leipzig, and took a degree at the last-named university. He removed to Marburg in 1746, where for two years he read lectures on history and on the law of nature and of nations. Here, too, he commenced those inquiries
in statistics by which his name became known. In 1748 he was given a professorship at Göttingen, where he resided till his death in 1772. His chief works were connected with statistics. The Staatsverfassung der heutigen vornehmsten europaischen Reiche appeared first in 1749, and revised editions were published in 1762 and 1768.