Johann Peter Süßmilch or
Süssmilch (September 3, 1707 in
ZehlendorfZehlendorf can refer to:*Zehlendorf, a district in Berlin, Germany*Zehlendorf near Oranienburg, a small village north of Berlin, part of Oranienburg....
- March 22 1767 in Berlin) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
priest, statistician and demographer.
He studied medicine and theology at Jena and Halle and in 1741 was an army chaplain in the
First Silesian WarThe Silesian Wars were a series of wars between Prussia and Austria for control of Silesia. They formed parts of the larger War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. They eventually ended with Silesia being incorporated into Prussia, and Austrian recognition of this...
. On Sunday, 13 August 1741, the former field preacher gave his inaugural sermon as pastor of the community
EtzinKetzin is a town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Havel, 17 km northwest of Potsdam, and 40 km west of Berlin.-Geography:...
.
Johann Peter Süßmilch or
Süssmilch (September 3, 1707 in
ZehlendorfZehlendorf can refer to:*Zehlendorf, a district in Berlin, Germany*Zehlendorf near Oranienburg, a small village north of Berlin, part of Oranienburg....
- March 22 1767 in Berlin) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
priest, statistician and demographer.
He studied medicine and theology at Jena and Halle and in 1741 was an army chaplain in the
First Silesian WarThe Silesian Wars were a series of wars between Prussia and Austria for control of Silesia. They formed parts of the larger War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. They eventually ended with Silesia being incorporated into Prussia, and Austrian recognition of this...
. On Sunday, 13 August 1741, the former field preacher gave his inaugural sermon as pastor of the community
EtzinKetzin is a town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Havel, 17 km northwest of Potsdam, and 40 km west of Berlin.-Geography:...
.
[ Eckart Elsner: Süßmilchs time Etzin ] Since 1742 he served as
ProvostA provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...
in the St. Petri parish in Berlin-Cölln. He became a member of the
Prussian Academy of SciencesThe Prussian Academy of Sciences was an academy established in Berlin on 11 July 1700.Prince-elector Frederick III of Brandenburg founded the academy under the name of Kurfürstlich Brandenburgische Societät der Wissenschaften upon the advice of Gottfried Leibniz, who was appointed president...
in 1745. He discussed with
Gotthold Ephraim LessingGotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature.-Life:Lessing was born in...
and
Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant was an 18th-century German philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg...
.
Süßmilch's most important publication on
The Divine order in the circumstances of the human sex, birth, death and reproduction which he wrote in 1741 is regarded as a seminal and pioneering work in
demographyDemography is the statistical study of all populations. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
and the history of
population statisticsPopulation statistics is the use of statistics to analyze characteristics or changes to a population. It is related to social demography and demography.Population statistics can analyze anything from global demographic changes to local small scale changes...
. Süssmilch discovered that, on the long run, there is a constant sex ratio of 1,000 female births to 1,068 male births, which he saw as a proof of the Divine working in this World. Due to this work he can be regarded as one of the founding fathers of demography in Germany. However, he refers in his work to Kaspar Neumann's work, who calculated a monthly statistics of deaths by age and death cause already between 1687 and 1691 in Breslau (today:
WroclawWrocław is the chief city of the historical region of Silesia in south-western Poland, situated on the Oder river. Over the centuries the city has been part of Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia, and Germany. Wroclaw is the capital of Lower Silesian Voivodeship...
). Süssmilch also worked on life tables.
Works
External links