James George Frazer

Born in Glasgow on January 1, 1854, James George Frazer was a Scottish anthropologist, folklorist, and classical scholar whose work reached a wide readership far beyond the university. He studied at the University of Glasgow and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he later became a fellow.

Frazer is best remembered for The Golden Bough, first published in 1890 and greatly expanded in later editions. In that ambitious study, he gathered examples from many societies to explore patterns in myth, magic, and religion, and he became one of the most influential early figures in the comparative study of culture and belief.

Although some of his ideas and methods were later challenged by anthropologists, his writing had a lasting effect on scholarship and literature alike. He was honored late in life with major distinctions including the Order of Merit, and he died in Cambridge on May 7, 1941.