Otto Heller

Born on July 4, 1863, Otto Heller studied in Prague, Munich, Vienna, and Berlin before moving to the United States in 1883. He later earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1890 and taught briefly at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining Washington University in St. Louis.

At Washington University, Heller became a professor of German language and literature in 1892, later adding modern European literature to his work. He went on to serve as the first dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and remained an important figure there until his retirement in 1937.

Heller wrote as both a scholar and a critic, with books including Studies in Modern German Literature, Henrik Ibsen: Plays and Problems, and Prophets of Dissent: Essays on Maeterlinck, Strindberg, Nietzsche and Tolstoy. He died on July 29, 1941.