BURNOUF, Eugène. Paris 8.4. (or 12.8.?) 1801 — Paris 28.5.1852. French Indologist. Professor in Paris. Son of —> Jean-Louis Burnouf (1775–1844) and Marie Genoviève Chavarin, cousin of —> Émile-Louis Burnouf (1821–1907). Studied classical languages under his father and from 1822 at École de Chartes (licencié ès lettres et en droit…
BRÉAL, Michel-Jules-Alfred. Landau (Pfalz) 26.3.1832 — Paris 25.11.1915. French IE scholar. Professor in Paris. Son of Auguste Bréal (1789–1839), a French-Jewish lawyer, and Caroline Worms (1803–1876). Educated in Wissembourg, Metz and Paris (Lycée Louis-le-Grand), then 1852-55 at École normale. Teacher in Strasbourg (1855) and Paris (Louis-le-Grand, 1856). Studied in 1857-60…
BLOCH, Jules. Paris 1.5.1880 — Sèvres (Seine-et-Oise) 29.11.1953. French Indologist and Linguist. Professor in Paris. Son of a Jewish merchant, Salomon Bloch and Caroline Bernheimer, a modest unreligious family originating in Alsace. After Lycée Charlemagne, studied in Paris (Fac. des lettres, etc.) under Lévi and Meillet (also Gauthiot, Foucher and…
BIOT, Jean Baptiste. Paris 21.4.1774 — Paris 3.2.1862. French Historian of Science, especially Astronomy. Son of a treasury official, Joseph Biot, joined the army in 1792, but sent to home because of failing health in 1794. Graduated as an engineer and taught Mathematics from 1797 in Beauvais, from 1799 at…
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. Son of a physician, Jacques-Martin Berthelot (1799–1864), educated at Lycée Henri IV (classsmate of Renan). Studies in Paris, dr. ès sciences 1854. From 1859…
BENVENISTE, Émile (born Ezra B.). Aleppo, Syria 25.2. or 27.4.1902 — Versailles 3.10.1976. French Iranian scholar and Linguist. Professor in Paris, naturalized as Frenchman in 1924. Son of Mathieu (Mathatias) Benveniste, of a well known Sephardim family of Turkey (originally of Spain), and Marie Malkenson, both teachers. Educated privately, in…
BAREAU, André. Saint Mandé (Seine) 31.12.1921 — Paris 2.3.1993. French Buddhologist. Professor in Paris. Son of an accountant. After undergraduate studies at École normale supérieure. worked as schoolteacher and now also began studies under Filliozat and Demiéville. Licence de philosophie 1946, diplom of É.P.H.É. Dr. ès lettres 1951. Worked in…
AMPÈRE, Jean-Jacques-Antoine. Lyon 12.8.1800 — Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) 26/27.3.1864. French Scholar of History and Literature interested in India. Son of the famous scientist André Marie Ampère (1775-1836) and Antoinette Carron (1773–1803), lost early his mother. Educated at Collège Henri IV. Travelled in Europe and wrote himself poetry. In 1830 taught at…
ABEL-RÉMUSAT, Jean-Pierre. Paris 5.9.1788 — Paris 4.6.1832 (or 2.6.). French Sinologist and Buddhist Scholar. Son of a physician. As an early accident bound him for years to bed and deprived him of one eye, he is said to have sought for compensation in studies and writing and made rapid progress.…