Johann Wilhelm Adolf Kirchhoff (6 January 1826 – 26 February 1908) was aGerman classical scholar andepigraphist.

Johann Wilhelm Adolf Kirchhoff
Born	(1826-01-06)6 January 1826 Berlin,Kingdom of Prussia
Died	26 February 1908(1908-02-26) (aged 82) Berlin,German Empire
Scientific career
Fields	Classics,Epigraphy
Institutions	University of Berlin

The son of historical painter Johann Jakob Kirchhoff, he was born inBerlin, and educated there. He then taught in various colleges until, in 1865, he was appointed professor of classicalphilology at theUniversity of Berlin,^[1] where he remained for the rest of his life. Kirchhoff's scientific studies covered a wide range in linguistics, antiquities, and Greek epigraphy. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1888.^[2]

• Die Homerische Odyssee (1859), putting forward an entirely new theory as to the composition of theOdyssey
• edition ofPlotinus (1856)
• edition ofEuripides (1855 and 1877–1878), the first critical edition based on a careful collation of all the manuscripts
• edition ofAeschylus (1880)
• Hesiod (Works and Days, 1881)
• Xenophon,Respublica Atheniensium (On the Athenian Constitution; 3rd edition, 1889)
• Über die Entstehungszeit des Herodotischen Geschichtswerkes (2nd edition, 1878)
• Thukydides und sein Urkundenmaterial (1895).^[1]

The following works are the result of his epigraphical andpalaeographical studies:

• Die Umbrischen Sprachdenkmäler (1851)
• Das Stadtrecht von Bantia (1853), on the tablet discovered in 1790 at Oppido nearBanzi, containing aplebiscite relating to the municipal affairs of the ancientBantia (theStadtrecht)
• Das Gotische Runenalphabet (1852)
• Die Fränkischen Runen (1855)
• Studien zur Geschichte des Griechischen Alphabets (4th edition, 1887).^[1]

The second part of volume iv. of theCorpus Inscriptionum Graecarum (1859, containing theChristian inscriptions) and volume i. of theCorpus Inscriptionum Atticarum (1873, containing the inscriptions before 403) with supplements thereto (volume iv. pts. 13, 1877–1891) are edited by him.^[1] From 1860 to 1902, he was in charge of theInscriptiones Graecae. He editedHermes (1866–81).

• Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905)."Kirchhoff, Adolf" .New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
• Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920)."Kirchhoff, Johann Wilhelm Adolf" .Encyclopedia Americana.
• Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879)."Kirchhoff, Johann Wilhelm Adolf" .The American Cyclopædia.

Attribution:

•   This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Kirchhoff, Johann Wilhelm Adolf".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 827.