SPECHT, Edouard Prosper Emmanuel. Paris 26.2.1843 — Paris 2.3.1906. French Sinologist. Student of Pauthier. From 1892 until death taught Chinese at É.P.H.É., Section des sciences historiques et philologiques. As a Sinologist he concentrated on works dealing with India or translated from Sanskrit. He was one of those who tried to…
SOPER, Alexander Coburn, III. Chicago 18.2.1904 — Rosemont, PA 12/13.1.1993. U.S. Art Historian. Son of Alexander Coburn Soper Jr. (1872–1930) and Bertha G. Dunlop (1876–1952). Graduated B.A. 1925 from Hamilton College and studied architecture at Princeton (M.A. 1929). In 1935-38 living in Japan studying local art and architecture. Ph.D. 1944…
SOOTHILL, William Edward. Halifax, Yorkshire 23.1.1861 — Oxford 13.5.1935. Rev. British Missionary in China, then Sinologist and Buddhist Scholar. Son of William Soothill, a textile worker. Studies at London University. Ordained priest 1882. In 1882–1911 Wesleyan Missionary in China, first in Wenzhou and in the end (1907-11) as Director of…
WULFF, Kurt. Hellerup 4.9.1881 — Copenhagen 4.5.1939. Danish Linguist (Indologist, South-East and East Asian Scholar and Sinologist). Librarian in Copenhagen. Son of Peter Wulff (1841–1898), a cigar manufacturer, and Emma Heydorn (1846–1926), a Holsteinian (German, but politically on Danish side) family. Matriculated in 1900, studied classics at Copenhagen, also linguistics…
WELLER, Friedrich. Markneukirchen, Vogtland 22.7.1889 — Leipzig 19.11.1980. German Indologist. Professor in Leipzig. The only child of Friedrich Wilhelm Weller (1854-1944), a violin maker, and Marie Wettengel (1860-1953). Educated at local village school and from 1901 at Realgymnasium in Plauen. From 1909 studied at Leipzig, first Romance and Germanic philology,…
WATTERS, Thomas. Newtownards, County Down, Ireland 9.2.1840 — Ealing (London) 10.1.1901. British (of Northern Ireland) Diplomat and Sinologist. Son of a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Thomas Watters and Elizabeth Marshall Clendinaing, educated at home. From 1857 studies at Queen’s College, Belfast, B.A. 1861 and M.A. 1862 Queen’s University. From 1863 in…
WARNER, Langdon. Cambridge, Mass. 1.8.1881 — ibid. 9.6.1955. U.S. Art Historian and Central Asian Explorer. Son of advocate Joseph Bangs Warner (1848–1923) and Margret Woodbury Storer. Educated at Harvard College (A.B. 1903). Participated in Pumpelly–Carnegie Expedition to Trans-Caspia in 1904-05. In 1906-13 Assistant Curator of Oriental Art in Museum of…
WARE, James Roland. 1901 — 27.2.1991 (or 1993?). U.S. Buddhist Scholar and Sinologist. Studies of Indology (and probably Classics) at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (Edgerton), then further studies of Indology, Tibetan and Chinese in Paris (Lévi et al.). Ph.D. Around 1924 Instructor of Latin at Lehigh University in Bethlehem,…
ROZENBERG, Otton Ottonovič (Otto Karl Julius Rosenberg). Friedrichstadt, Kurland (Jaunjelgava, Latvia) 7.7.1888 — Tallinn 26.11.1919. Russian (Baltic German) Buddhologist and Sinologist. Son of city archivist Otto R. and Augusta Weidenbaum. Grew up and matriculated (1905) in St.Petersburg. Studied Sanskrit (under Ščerbatskoj) and Chinese at St.Petersburg, graduated 1910. Further studies at…
ROCKHILL, William Woodville. Philadelphia, Pa. 1.4.1854 — Honolulu 8.12.1914. U.S. Diplomat, Traveller, Sinologist and Tibetan Scholar. Son of Thomas Cadwalader Rockhill (1819–1871) and Dorothea Anne Woodville (1823–1913). Lost his father when 13 (but ancestors.familysearch.org claims he died 19.2.1854) and the mother settled in Paris to avoid the Civil War. Studies…