John Graunt published a comparative study of mortality and morbidity in 1662 and was associated with which organization?

• A. American Statistical Association
• B. Royal Society of London
• C. National Academy of Sciences
• D. British Medical Association

Answer: (B)

This question tests knowledge of where Graunt’s pioneering work in demography was linked. John Graunt published Observations upon the Bills of Mortality in 1662, using systematic counts of births and deaths from London’s weekly Bills of Mortality to infer population patterns and life expectancy. He did this within the Royal Society of London, the leading scientific organization of that era, which provided a forum and recognition for his quantitative approach and helped popularize statistical thinking in public science. The Royal Society is the correct association because it was the central hub for scientific inquiry in 17th-century England and connected to Graunt’s innovative use of mortality data. The other options are organizations that either did not exist yet or were not tied to Graunt’s work in that period.