THIEME, Paul. Berlin 18.4.1905 — London 27.4.2001. German Indologist. Professor in Halle, New Haven and Tübingen. Son of Oskar Thieme (1868–1943), a minister, and Elisabeth Blancke (1870–1942), born as one of triplets. Gymnasium in Eisenach, privately learned Sanskrit from Fick’s textbook (from school he had Latin, Greek and Hebrew). From…
SAPIR, Edward (born Eduard Sapir). Lauenburg, Pomerania (now Lębork, Poland) 26.1.1884 — New Haven 4.2.1939. U.S. Linguist and Anthropologist. Born in an unorthodox Lithuanian Jewish family, which emigrated first 1888 to Liverpool and then in 1890 to the U.S.A., son of Jakob David Sapir, a cantor, and Eva Seagal. Grew…
LEWIS, Oscar (born Lefkowitz). New York 25.12.1914 — New York 16.11.1970. U.S. Anthropologist. Son of a rabbi, raised in a farm in upper New York state. Studies at City College of New York (B.A. 1936 in history) and Columbia University, switched from history to anthropology (Ruth Benedict). Ph.D. 1940 there. Taught…
BOXER, Charles Ralph. Sandown, Isle of Wight 8.4.1904 — St.Albans, Hertfordshire 27.4.2000. British Historian of Early Colonial Asia. Son of Colonel Hugh Edward Richard B. and Jane Patterson. Grew up in Dorset. Educated at Wellington College and Sandhurst. In 1923-47 served in Lincolnshire Regiment, first in Northern Ireland. He interested…
STURTEVANT, Edgar Howard. Jacksonville, Ill. 7.3.1875 — Branford, CT 1.7.1952. U.S. IE and Hittite Scholar. Professor in New Haven. Son of Alfred Henry St. (1850–1930), a farmer, and Harriet Morse (1850–1923). After Indiana College in Jacksonville (it was founded by his grandfather) studies at Indiana University (A.B 1898) and University…
SALISBURY, Edward Elbridge. Boston, Mass. 6.4.1814 — New Haven, Conn. 5.2.1901. U.S. Indologist and Oriental Scholar. Professor in New Haven. Son of Josiah S. (1781–1826) and Abigail Breese (1780–1866), a learned American family. Educated by his father, then at Boston Latin School. Studies ofGreek and Hebrew atYale, graduated 1832. After…
WHITNEY, William Dwight. Nothampton, Mass. 9.2.1827 (hardly 1828) — New Haven, Conn. 7/8.6.1894. U.S. Indologist. Professor in New Haven. Born in an old Yankee family as the son of a businessman, Josiah Dwight Whitney, and Sarah Williston. Educated in 1842-45 at Williams College (B.A. 1845). In 1845-49 he worked in…
RAHDER, Johannes. Loeboeg Begalong (Lubuk Begalung), Sumatra 27.12.1898 — 3.3.1988. Dutch Japanologist and Buddhist Scholar in the U.S.A. Born in Indonesia where his father was the governor of Western Sumatra. Studies in 1917-24 at Leiden, then 1924-28 at Brussels (La Vallée Poussin) and Paris (Pelliot). Ph.D. 1926 Utrecht (under Caland).…
TEDESCO, Paul Maximilian. Vienna 5.5.1898 — New Haven 17.12.1980. Austrian Indo-Iranian Scholar in the U.S.A. Professor in New Haven. Son of Oscar Isidor Tedesco, a Slovakian Jew and civil engineer, and Thekla Tiktin (1868–1942). From 1916 studies at Vienna. Ph.D. 1920 Vienna (under B. Geiger). In 1924-36 gymnasium teacher in…
OERTEL, Hanns. Geithain, Sachsen 20.4.1868 — Munich 7.2.1952. German Indologist, for a while in the U.S.A. Professor in New Haven and Munich. Son of Colonel Philipp Julius Oe. (1821–86) and Evelyn Lassnitzer. Gymnasium in Plauen and Meissen. After father’s death in 1886 moved with the family to the U.S.A., studied…