Eben Alexander

Eben Alexander (March 9, 1851 in Knoxville, Tennessee – March 11, 1910 in Knoxville, Tennessee) was an American scholar, educator, dean, and ambassador.

Life and career

Alexander was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, to Judge Ebenezer Alexander and Margaret White McClung. Alexander attended the University of Tennessee (then known as East Tennessee University) for two years, then matriculated to Yale in 1869 where he graduated in 1873 with an A.B. He was initiated into Yale's Skull and Bones in 1873. After graduation, Alexander returned to Knoxville and taught Greek at the University of Tennessee, first as an instructor and then as Professor. In 1886, he moved to the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill, where from 1886 to 1893 he was Professor of Greek language and literature.

In 1893 President Grover Cleveland appointed him "Envoy Extraordinary, Minister Plenipotentiary, and Consul General to Greece, Roumania, and Servia" [sic]. As ambassador to Greece, he helped in the revival of the Olympic Games, making the first cash contribution to the organizing committee, encouraging the participation of American athletes, and with his wife hosting numerous social events during the period of the games, which ran from April 6 to April 15, 1896.

Eben Alexander (author)

Eben Alexander III (born December 11, 1953) is an American neurosurgeon and the author of the book Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, in which he describes his 2008 near-death experience and asserts that science can and will determine that heaven really does exist.

Early life, family, and education

Alexander is the adopted descendant of a family of scholars, jurists, and physicians. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy (class of 1972), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (A.B., 1975), and the Duke University School of Medicine (M.D., 1981).

Alexander was an Intern in General Surgery at Duke University Medical Center, a resident at Duke, Newcastle (U.K.) General Hospital. He was a resident and research fellow at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital and is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American College of Surgeons (F.A.C.S.).

Career

Academic and clinical appointments

Alexander has taught at Duke University Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the University of Virginia Medical School.