BETH, Ali. Almelo 2.2.1911 — 1989. Dutch Indologist. Daughter of Hermanus Johannes Elisa Beth (1880–1952), a teacher, and Hillegje de Groot. Studied classics and Sanskrit at Utrecht. Wrote her dr. dissertation there on Sanskrit in 1943 (under Gonda). In the mid-1940s taught classical languages in a gymnasium in the Hague…
BESKROVNYJ, Vasilij Matveevič. Šejkovka (Šijkivka), Harkovskaja gub., Ukraine 24.5. (6.6.)1908 — Moscow 1.4.1978. Russian (Ukrainian?) Indologist, specialist in Hindi/Urdu. From 1926 studies at Leningrad Oriental Institute: graduated 1930 (under A. P. Barannikov), Kand. filologičeskih nauk 1943. Naučnyj sotrudnik at Oriental Institute, Academy of Science, Leningrad from 1932, staršij naučnyj sotrudnik.…
BESANT, Annie (née Wood). London 1.10.1847 — Adyar (Madras) 19.9.1933. British Theosophist. Daughter of William Burton Perse Wood (1816–1852) and Emily Mary Roche Morris (1817?–1874), an English-Irish family. Lost early her father, educated privately in England, Germany and France. Married Rev. Frank Besant (1840?–1917) in 1867, but was legally separated…
BERTHOLET(-SCHMID), Alfred Robert Felix. Basel 9.11.1868 — Münsterlingen, Thurgau 24.8.1951. Swiss Reformed Theologian and Scholar of Comparative Religion in Germany. Professor in Göttingen and Berlin. Son of David Felix Bertholet (1830–1906), a school director, and Sabine Wagner (1841–1894). Studies of Theology at Basel, also briefly at Strassburg (Nöldeke) and Berlin…
BERTHELOT, Pierre-Eugène-Marcellin. Paris 25.10.1827 — Paris 18.3.1907. French Chemist, famous for his work on Organic Chemistry. Also a Scholar of the History of Chemistry and Alchemy, and a Republican politician. Son of a physician, Jacques-Martin Berthelot (1799–1864), educated at Lycée Henri IV (befriended there with Renan). Studies in Paris, dr.…
BERNŠTAM, Aleksandr Natanovič. Kerch (Kerč), Crimea 18.9.(1.10.)1910 — Leningrad 10.12.1956 (when 47). Russian Central Asian Archaeologist. Educated in Sevastopol. Graduated 1931 from Leningrad Institute of History, Philology and Linguistics. Kand. istoričeskih nauk 1935, Dr. ist. nauk 1943. In 1932-35 naučnyj sotrudnik at Hermitage, 1934-56 at Academy of History of Material…
BERNHEIMER, Carlo. Leghorn 3.9.1877 — 1966. Italian (Jewish) Indologist and Palaeographist. From Leghorn, studies at Bologna (Pullé), graduated 1896/97. Taught from 1906 as Docent of Sanskrit at University of Bologna, also taught palaeography, dismissed in 1938 because of Fascist racial laws, restored 1945. Stopped publication after the heavy criticism of…
BERNHARD, Franz. Schweidnitz in Silesia (now Świdnica in Poland) 31.5.1931 — Mustang/Nepal 5.9.1971. German Indologist. Professor in Hamburg. Son of a butcher from Silesia. Studiedin 1952-60 at Göttingen classical philology, Indology (under W. Thomas and Waldschmidt), IE, and even Finno-Ugric philology. Ph.D. 1958 Göttingen. In 1956-60 worked at Tübingen University…
BERNET KEMPERS, August Johan. ’s-Hertogenbosch 7.10.1906 — Arnhem 2.5.1992. Dutch Art Historian and South-East Asian Scholar, long time in Indonesia. Son of Karel Jan Willem Bernet Kempers (1867–1945), a notary, and Anna Geertruide Sara Wilhelmina ten Doesschate (1874–1933). After school in Middelburg studies of Indo-Iranian and Indonesian from 1926 at…
BERNER, Vil’gel’m Mihajlovič. v Baranovič, Minskoj gub. (now in Belarus) 1903 — Leningrad 1958. Russian Indologist. After school from 1917 apprenticed in north-western railway, in 1920 volunteer in Red Army and member of Communist Party. In 1922-26 machinist in Soviet Navy, 1926-29 fireman in the factory Krasnaja Zarja, Leningrad, 1929-31…