Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) is most famous for his work on population, as outlined in his book "An Essay on the Principle of Population" in 1798. Malthus believed that the human population would grow at a geometric rate, as in 1, 2, 4, 8, and so on, while the means of support, such as food, would only increase at an arithmetic rate, as in 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. This would inevitably cause the population to outgrow its means of support, leading to misery and poverty, and then to checks such as famine, disease, or war, which is known as the Malthusian Trap.
