Samuel Heinicke

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Samuel Heinicke (April 10, 1727 - April 30, 1790), the originator in Germany of systematic education for the deaf, was born in Nautschutz, Germany.

Entering the electoral bodyguard at Dresden, he subsequently supported himself by teaching. Around 1754, he took his first deaf and dumb pupil. His success in teaching this pupil was so great that he determined to devote himself entirely to this work.

The outbreak of the Seven Years' War upset his plans for a time. Taken prisoner at Pirna, he was brought to Dresden, but soon made his escape. In 1768, when living in Hamburg, he successfully taught a deaf boy to talk, following the methods prescribed by Amman in his book Surdus loquens, but improving on them.

Recalled to his own country by the elector of Saxony, he opened the first deaf and dumb institution in Leipzig, Germany, in 1778. He directed this school until his death. He was the author of various books on the instruction of the deaf and dumb.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.