Benedict Einarson
Benedict Einarson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Benedict Seneca Einarson April 29, 1906 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Died | August 12, 1978 (aged 72) Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago (AB, AM, PhD) |
| Thesis | Studies in Nemesius (1932) |
| Paul Shorey | |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Wisconsin Harvard University University of Chicago |
Benedict Seneca Einarson (April 29, 1906 – August 12, 1978) was the Edward Olson Professor of Greek at the University of Chicago.
Biography
[edit]Einarson was born in 1901 to Benedict Einarson, an Icelandic doctor, and a Swedish mother.[1] Graduating from Parker High School, he was admitted to the University of Chicago as an "entrance scholar", receiving a "half-scholarship" for his examination placements.[2] He received a bachelor's degree with honors in 1926,[3] and further obtained a master's degree in Greek in 1927.[4] He then undertook his doctoral studies under Paul Shorey, receiving a doctorate in 1932 after defending his thesis, Studies in Nemesius.[5]
With the assistance of Paul Shorey, Einarson obtained a fellowship at Yale in 1933.[1] He then became a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows, serving as one of its junior fellows between 1934 and 1937 before becoming an instructor at Harvard.[5][6] Suffering from a nervous breakdown in 1939, he left Harvard and applied for an open position for teaching Greek at the University of Chicago.[1] There, he first taught as an instructor from 1940 to 1942, then as an assistant professor between 1942 and 1946 and as an associate professor from 1946 to 1952;[6] he also served as an assistant editor of Classical Philology.[7] Einarson briefly taught as a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Oxford in 1959 and 1960;[1] in 1966, he was appointed as Edward Olson Professor of Greek at the university.[7]
Einarson died of lung cancer on August 12, 1978, in Chicago,[8] and was eulogized in Gnomon as "the United States' most learned Hellenist".[1]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 Calder III, William (April 1979). "Benedict Einarson". Gnomon. 51 (2): 207–208.
- ↑ Annual Register. University of Chicago. 1923. p. 529.
- ↑ Annual Register. University of Chicago. 1926. p. 424.
- ↑ "June 9, 1927". Board of Trustees Minutes (PDF). University of Chicago. p. 198.
- 1 2 "Einarson, Benedict Seneca". Database of Classical Scholars. Rutgers University–New Brunswick. Retrieved January 22, 2026.
- 1 2 Brinton, Crane, ed. (1959). "Benedict Einarson". Society of Fellows. Harvard Society of Fellows. p. 119.
- 1 2 "Einarson appointed Edward Olson prof". The Chicago Maroon. April 8, 1966. p. 9.
- ↑ Patner, Andrew (August 18, 1978). "University classicist Einarson dies at 72". The Chicago Maroon. p. 5.