MEISEZAHL, Richard Othon. Weissenburg (now Wissembourg, Alsace) 16.8.1906 — Schladean, Sieg 27.4.1992. German (of Alsace) Tibetologist. For health reasons interrupted gymnasium in 1920 in Cologne, obtained practical education and worked in a merchant firm until 1940. Being on business in Paris in 1927-28 he started studies of Indology and Tibetology.…
MARX, Karl Rudolf. Niesky, Eastern Saxony 1857 — Leh 29.5.1891. German Missionary Physician, Tibetologist and Historian in Ladakh. Born in a devout Moravian family. Dr.med., specialising on ophthalmology. Missionary of the Moravian Mission in Ladakh (Leh) from 1887 leading the mission’s hospital and clinic. An early scholar of the history…
MARSHMAN, Joshua. Westburg Leigh, Wiltshire 20.4.1768 — Serampur 5.12.1837. British Missionary and Pioneer of Indology and Sinology in India. Son of John Marshman, a weaver, and Mary Couzener, educated at the village school of Westbury Leigh. Apprenticed to a bookseller he read extensively. In 1794-99 Master of a Baptist school…
MANEN, Mari Albert Johan van. Nijmegen 16.4.1877 — Calcutta 17.4.1943. Dutch Librarian and Theosophist in India. Son of Reinier Otto van Manen (1843–1923), an engineer in state service, and Maria Albertina Johanna van Tricht, grew up in Zutphen and Haarlem. After a chequered youth, more interested in art and politics…
MALAN, Caesar Jean Salmon (then Solomon Caesar Malan). Geneva 12.4.1812 (or 23.4.) — Bournemouth 25.11.1894. Rev. Swiss Priest, Polyglot and Oriental Scholar in the U.K. Son of Dr. César Henri Abraham Malan (1787–1864), a controversial theologian, of an exiled French Huguenot family, and Salomé Georgette Jeanne Schönberger. Educated at Vandœuvres,…
LINOSSIER, Raymonde. Lyon 25.3.1897 — Neuilly-sur-Seine 30./31.1./1.2.1930. French Art Historian and Indologist. Lawyer at Paris Cour d’appel. Daughter of Georges L. (1857–1923), Professor of Medicine. In WW I served as nurse, after war began law studies, graduated 1926. Also studied Indology under Lévi. Worked from 1925 as unsalaried attachée in…
LIGETI, Lajos (Louis). Balassagyarmat/Nógrád 28.10.1902 — Budapest 24.5.1987. Hungarian Mongolian and Central Asian Scholar. Professor in Budapest. Son of János Ligeti and Ilona Cseh. Educated in Gyarmat and Budapest. Studies of classical philology, Hungarian and Turkish (Németh) at Budapest. Ph.D. 1925 Budapest. After further studies in Paris, of Sinology (Maspéro),…
LESSING, Ferdinand Dietrich (Diedrich). Essen-Altenessen 26.2.1882 — Berkeley, Calif. 31.12.1961. German Sinologist and Central Asian Scholar in the U.S.A. U.S. citizen 1946. Professor in Berkeley. Son of Edward Lessing (1854–1926) and Elisabeth Brockhaus. Gymnasium in Lingen, matriculated in 1902. Studies of Chinese and Russian in Berlin (diplom 1905), guided by…
LENZ, Robert (Robert Hristianovič Lenc). Dorpat (Tartu) 23.1./4.2.1808 — St. Petersburg 30.7./11.8.1836. Russian (German from Estonia) Indologist. Son of Christian Lenz (1770–1817), the secretary of municipal council of Dorpat, and Luise Elisabeth Wolff (1781?–1830), brother of the physicist Academician Heinrich Emil Lenz (1804–1865). After Gymnasium in Dorpat in 1820-24 he…
LA VALLÉE POUSSIN, Louis Étienne Marie de. Liège 1.1.1869 — Brussels 18.2.1938. Belgian Indologist, a specialist of Buddhism and History. Professor in Ghent. Son of a French father, Gustave de La Vallée Poussin (1829–1910), and Belgian mother, Marie Pauline de Monge de Franeau (1845–1876), both of families with great scholarly…