Georg Friedrich Sartorius

Who was Georg Friedrich Sartorius?

Georg Friedrich Sartorius was a German research historian, economist and professor at Göttingen University.

Sartorius was born in Kassel, where he attended gymnasium. Then he studied theology and also orientalism in Göttingen. Later he changed to history and started working at the Library there. He was appointed as professor in history in 1802.

His major work was his monograph Geschichte des Hanseatischen Bundes. published in three volumes 1802-1808. His research on this topic was the first modern work on the Hanseatic League. A second edition prepared by him was published post mortem in 1830. He is also known as translator and popularizer of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. As an economist he gave lectures on taxation.

Goethe was Godparent of his second son, the geologist Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen and grandfather of August Sartorius von Waltershausen, a well known economist who studied the American economy.