Eduard Fraenkel (1888–1970) was a German classical scholar who served as Corpus Christi Professor of Latin at the University of Oxford from 1935 until 1953. Born to a family of assimilated Jews in the German Empire, he studied classics at the Universities of Berlin and Göttingen. He established his academic reputation in 1922 with the publication of a monograph on Plautus, a Roman comedian. In 1934, antisemitic legislation introduced by the Nazi Party forced him to seek refuge in England. He published a three-volume commentary in 1950 on Agamemnon by the Greek playwright Aeschylus (pictured), and a monograph in 1957 on the Roman poet Horace. Biographers place particular emphasis on the impact of his teaching at Oxford, where he led a weekly classical seminar that influenced the intellectual development of many undergraduates. The Hellenist Hugh Lloyd-Jones described Fraenkel as "one of the most learned classical scholars of his time".

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Fraenkel

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1743:

French physicist Jean-Pierre Christin published the design of a mercury thermometer using the centigrade scale, with 0 representing the melting point of water and 100 its boiling point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius

1828:

The United States Congress passed the largest tariff in the nation's history, which resulted in severe economic hardship in the American South. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariff_of_Abominations

1997:

The Sierra Gorda Biosphere, which encompasses the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, was established as a result of grassroots efforts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Gorda

2010:

In Bangkok, the Thai military concluded a week-long crackdown on widespread protests by forcing the surrender of opposition leaders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Thai_military_crackdown

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

gnomon: 1. An object such as a pillar or a rod that is used to tell time by the shadow it casts when the sun shines on it, especially the pointer on a sundial. 2. An object such as a pillar used by an observer to calculate the meridian altitude of the sun (that is, the altitude of the sun when it reaches the observer's meridian), for the purpose of determining the observer's latitude. 3. The index of the hour circle of a globe. 4. (geometry) A plane figure formed by removing a parallelogram from a corner of a larger parallelogram. 5. (mathematics, by extension) A number representing the increment between two figurate numbers (“numbers equal to the numbers of dots in geometric figures formed of dots”). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gnomon

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

There isn't just one point; it takes time to learn. You don't have to be intelligent, but I think you have to be open to possibilities and willing to explore. The only stupid people are those who are arrogant and closed off.   --Edward de Bono https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_de_Bono