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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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