Leo Wiener | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1862 |
| Died | 1939 (age 77) Belmont, Massachusetts, United States |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | University of Warsaw Friedrich Wilhelm University |
| Known for | became the first American professor ofSlavic literature; translated 24 volumes ofLeo Tolstoy's works into English |
| Spouse | Bertha Kahn |
| Children | Norbert Wiener (son) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | history,linguistics |
| Institutions | University of Kansas (1892–95) Harvard University (1895–1930) |
| Notable students | George Rapall Noyes |
Leo Wiener (1862–1939) was an Americanhistorian,linguist, author andtranslator.
Wiener was born inBiałystok (then in theRussian Empire), ofLithuanian Jewish origin.[1] His father was Zalmen (Solomon) Wiener,[2][3] and his mother was Frejda Rabinowicz. He studied at theUniversity of Warsaw in 1880, and then at theFriedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin.[4] Wiener later declared, "Having 'for many years been a member of the Unitarian Church,' and having 'preached absolute amalgamation with the Gentile surroundings', [I] 'never allied with the Jewish Church or with Jews as such."[1]
Wiener left Europe with the plan of founding avegetarian commune inBritish Honduras (nowBelize). He sailedsteerage toNew Orleans. On his arrival, in 1880, he had no money.[5] After travel and work around the US, he went toKansas City, Missouri, and became a lecturer in the department of Germanic and Romance languages at theUniversity of Kansas.[6] He was apolyglot, and was reputed to speak thirty languages well.[7]
Wiener published articles onYiddish linguistic elements in Polish, German, Ukrainian, andBelarusian. In 1898, Wiener traveled to Europe to collect material for his bookThe History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century (1899).Isaac Peretz encouraged him andAbraham Harkavy, librarian at the Asiatic Museum of St. Petersburg, presented him with a thousand Yiddish books, which formed the basis of the Yiddish collection of the Harvard University library. After this project Wiener's interest in Yiddish declined.
Beginning in 1896, Wiener lectured onSlavic cultures atHarvard University and became the first American professor ofSlavic literature. He compiled a valuable anthology of Russian literature and translated 24 volumes ofLev Tolstoy's works into English,[8] a task which he completed in 24 months.[9] He taughtGeorge Rapall Noyes.
In 1893 Wiener married Bertha Kahn. The mathematicianNorbert Wiener was their son.[11] Though he himself was a prodigy, he believed in nurture and became dedicated to turn his son into a genius. Norbert Wiener graduated from Ayer High School in 1906 at 11 years of age, and then enteredTufts College. He was awarded a BA in mathematics in 1909 at the age of 14, whereupon he began graduate studies of zoology at Harvard. In 1910 he transferred to Cornell to study philosophy. He graduated in 1911 at the age of 17.
