author
A. J. (Alexander James) Murray
Raised in rural Scotland with very little formal schooling, this self-taught linguist became one of the most remarkable language scholars of his time. His life has the feel of a classic nineteenth-century story: hard beginnings, relentless curiosity, and a hard-won place in the university world.
1 Audiobook
Special report on diseases of cattle
by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry, V. T. (Vickers T.) Atkinson, Dr. (William) Dickson, A. (Adolph) Eichhorn, Richard W. (Richard West) Hickman, James Law, (Dr.) (William Herbert) Lowe, C. Dwight (Charles Dwight) Marsh, John R. (John Robbins) Mohler, A. J. (Alexander James) Murray, Leonard Pearson, Brayton Howard Ransom, M. R. (Milton R.) Trumbower, Dr. (Benjamin Tilghman) Woodward
About the author
Born in 1775 in Galloway, Scotland, Alexander Murray grew up in modest circumstances and spent much of his youth working rather than studying in any formal way. Even so, he taught himself from whatever books he could find and developed an early fascination with languages.
That drive eventually carried him into academic life. Murray became known as a philologist and linguist, was ordained as a minister, and in 1812 was appointed professor of Hebrew and Semitic languages at the University of Edinburgh.
He died in 1813, not long after reaching that position, but his story has continued to stand out because of the unusual path he took to scholarship. He is especially remembered as a gifted self-educated language scholar whose life showed how far determination and intellectual curiosity could carry a person.