F. Max (Friedrich Max) Müller

Born in Dessau in 1823, Max Müller became one of the best-known nineteenth-century scholars of language and religion. Trained in Leipzig, Berlin, and Paris, he eventually settled in England and spent most of his career at Oxford, where he built a reputation as a gifted writer, editor, and lecturer.

He is especially remembered for his work on Sanskrit and the Rig Veda, as well as for overseeing the influential Sacred Books of the East series. His books and lectures introduced many readers to Indian thought and helped establish Indology and the comparative study of religion as modern academic fields.

Müller wrote for both specialists and general readers, which made his ideas travel far beyond the university. Although some of his theories are now debated or outdated, his role in opening cross-cultural study of language, mythology, and religion remains central to his legacy.