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Back to article: THEODOR GOLDSTUCKER (1821-1872)

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GOLDSTUCKER, THEODOR (1821-1872), German Sanskrit scholar, was born of Jewish parents at Konigsberg on the 18th of January 1821, and, after attending the gymnasium of that town, entered the university in 1836 as a student of Sanskrit. In 1838 he removed to Bonn, and, after graduating at Konigsberg in 184o, proceeded to Paris; in 1842 he edited a German translation of the Prabodha Chandrodaya. From 1847 to 185o he resided at Berlin, where his talents and scholarship were recognized by Alexander von Humboldt, but where his advanced political views caused the authorities to regard him with suspicion. In the latter year he removed to London, where in 1852 he was appointed professor of Sanskrit in University College. He now worked on a new Sanskrit dictionary, of which the first instalment appeared in 1856. In 1861 he published his chief work: Panini: his place in Sanskrit Literature; and he was one of the founders and chief promoters of the Sanskrit Text Society; he was also an active member of the Philological Society, and of other learned bodies. He died in London on the 6th of March 1872.
As Literary Remains some of his writings were published in two volumes (London, 1879), but his papers were left to the India Office with the request that they were not to be published until 1920.