DE VINCENTIIS, Gherardo. Naples 19.12.1845 — Naples 19.1.1907. Italian Iranian (Persian) Scholar, also interested in Sanskrit and China. Studies at Naples under Lignana. Professor of Persian at Regio Istituto Orientale di Napoli: incaricato 1878, eo. 1890, ord. 1904-07. Publications: Il Gulistan, ossia il Roseto dello Scheich Sadi di Schiraz. Prima…
BOXER, Charles Ralph. Sandown, Isle of Wight 8.3.1904 — St.Albans, Hertfordshire 27.4.2000 (when 96). British Historian of Early Colonial Asia. Son of Colonel Hugh Edward Richard Boxer (d. in war 1915) and Jane Patterson, a naval military family. Grew up in Dorset. Educated at Wellington College and Sandhurst. In 1923-47…
BEHRSING, Siegfried. Bremerfeld, near Weissenstein (now Prääma in Paide, Estonia) 9.11.(27.10.)1903 — Berlin 5.4.1994. German (originally from Estonia) Sinologist and Buddhist Scholar, in the beginning also an Indologist. Professor in Berlin (East). Born in the then Russian Estonia as a son of the German teacher (tutor, later Oberlehrer), Arthur Behrsing…
TIHONOV, Dmitrij Ivanovič. Rossija-Molotovo, gub. Tobolsk (now Vargašinskij raion, obl. Kurgansk) 18.(31.)10.1906 — Leningrad 27.1.1987. Russian Historian, Sinologist and Central Asian Scholar. Son of a farmer. Graduated 1936 from Leningrad. Kand. ist. nauk 1941, Dr. ist. nauk 1968. In 1936-61 naučnyj sotrudnik at Oriental Institute in Leningrad (1943 staršij naučnyj…
SIMON, Ernst Julius Walter (Ximen Xuade). Berlin 10.6.1893 — London 22.2.1981. German Sinologist and Sino-Tibetan Scholar in the U.K. Professor in London. Son of Jewish mathematician Heinrich Simon (1859–1930) and Cläre Abraham (murdered in Ghetto Theresienstadt). Studies of classical and Romance philology in 1911-14 at Berlin, 1915-18 in army. Employed…
SCHMIDTS, Peter (Pēteris Šmits, Russian Pëtr Petrovič Šmidt). Rauna, Latvia (then of Russia) 25.12.1869 — Riga 5.6.1938. Latvian Linguist, Ethnographist and Sinologist. Professor of IE Antiquity and Baltic Philology at Riga. Born in a peasant family, gymnasium in Riga. Studied Russian, Chinese and Manchu in Moscow and St.Petersburg. After a…
PELLIOT, Paul. Paris 28.5.1878 — Paris 26.10.1945. French Sinologist and Central Asian Scholar. Professor in Paris. Son of Charles Théodore Pelliot (1847–1935), an industrial chemist, and Marie Renault, educated in Paris (collège Massillon, lycée Charlemagne and collège Stanislas). Studied in Paris for diplomatic career at École des sciences politiques and…
MEIER, Franz Josef. 1906 — 1987. German Librarian, began his career as Indologist. Librarian in Munich. Ph.D. 1931 München. In 1937-70 librarian at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, after the WW II as director of the Ostasiensammlung. Thus he turned from Indian studies to East Asia. Publications: Diss. publ. as “Der…
MAYERS, William Frederick. Hobart, Tasmania 7.1.1831 — Shanghai 24.3.1878. British Diplomat and Sinologist in China. Son of Rev. Michael John Mayers (1801–1881), colonial chaplain in Tasmania, in 1842 back to the U.K. Grew up in Marseille, where his father was now consulate chaplain. After a few years as journalist in…
LEGGETT, Trevor Pryce. London 22.8.1914 — London 2.8.2000. British Author interested in Indian and Japanese Thought. Son of Ernest Lewis Leggett, a violinist, and Isobel Mabel Pryce. Studies of law at London University (graduated 1934). From 1936 Yoga disciple of Hari Prasad Shastri (d. 1956) in England for 18 years.…