ABSTRACT
VON BORTKIEWICZ, by far the most eminent German statistician since Lexis, whose pupil he was in important respects, was not a German by descent. He came from one of those Polish families which had made their peace with Poland’s Russian lords, and was brought up in St. Petersburg, his birthplace, where he also went to the University and where he later on taught for a time. Connections formed during a prolonged stay in Germany, where in 1895 he had become a Privatdozent in the University of Strassburg, led to his being appointed, in 1901, to an ‘extraordinary’ (assistant) professorship at Berlin. Characteristically enough, this eminent man was never thought of as a candidate for one of the great chairs, either in Berlin or at any other university, and it was not until 1920, when by a measure intended to ‘democratize’ faculties all extraordinary professors became full professors ad personam, that he obtained that rank, without, however, ceasing to be entirely isolated.
