Benjamin Gompertz
Benjamin Gompertz (5 March 1779 – 14 July 1865) was an English self-taught mathematician and actuary who became a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is best known for the Gompertz law of mortality, published in 1825, a simple model that describes how the chance of dying increases as people get older. This idea helped insurance companies estimate life costs and led to the Gompertz–Makeham law of mortality.
Gompertz came from a German Jewish family of diamond merchants in London. Because Jews were barred from universities, he studied on his own, reading Isaac Newton, Colin Maclaurin, and William Emerson. He contributed to mathematical magazines from 1798 and won several prize problems.
In 1810 he married Abigail Montefiore, and they had three children. Following his father’s wishes, he worked at the London Stock Exchange, later turning more of his energy to mathematics and astronomy. He joined the Spitalfields Mathematical Society and, after it merged, the Astronomical Society of London, where he helped with astronomical tables and instruments.
Gompertz was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1819 and served on its council. He also helped start the Alliance Assurance Company as actuary, a role he held with success. His work extended to government calculations for the Army medical board and to charitable efforts for Jewish communities.
He died in London in 1865 after a paralytic seizure. Gompertz’s mortality model remains influential in demography, actuarial science, and beyond, and his name is attached to the Gompertz curve.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 20:50 (CET).