author
Theodor Nöldeke
1836–1930
A pioneering 19th-century scholar of Semitic languages and early Islamic history, he became especially known for his influential work on the Qur'an and for a lifetime of exacting philological research.
1 Audiobook
Sketches from Eastern History
by Theodor Nöldeke
About the author
Born in Harburg on March 2, 1836, and educated at Göttingen, Vienna, Leiden, and Berlin, he grew into one of Germany's best-known Orientalists. His early book Geschichte des Qorâns won wide attention and helped establish his reputation as a leading scholar of Semitic and Islamic studies.
After teaching at several universities, he became professor of Oriental languages at Strasbourg, where he taught from 1872 until his retirement in 1906. His work ranged across Arabic, Syriac, and other Semitic languages, and reference works on his life consistently describe him as a major figure in comparative philology.
He died on December 25, 1930. Today he is remembered less as a popular writer than as a meticulous scholar whose research shaped later study of the Qur'an, Semitic linguistics, and the ancient Near East.