Max Müller

Friedrich Max Müller (6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900), generally known as Max Müller, was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion. Müller wrote both scholarly and popular works on the subject of Indology. The Sacred Books of the East, a 50-volume set of English translations, was prepared under his direction. He also promoted the idea of a Turanian family of languages and Turanian people.

Early life and education

Friedrich Max Müller was born into a cultivated family on 6 December 1823 in Dessau, the son of Wilhelm Müller, a lyric poet whose verse Franz Schubert had set to music in his song-cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise. His mother, Adelheid Müller (née von Basedow), was the eldest daughter of a prime minister of Anhalt-Dessau. Carl Maria von Weber was a godfather.

Müller was named after his mother's elder brother, Friedrich, and after the central character, Max, in Weber's opera Der Freischütz. Later in life, he adopted Max as a part of his surname, believing that the prevalence of Müller as a name made it too common. His name was also recorded as "Maximilian" on several official documents (e.g. university register, marriage certificate), on some of his honours and in some other publications.

Max Müller (cross-country skier)

Max Müller (born 27 June 1916) is a Swiss cross-country skier who competed in the 1948 Winter Olympics. In 1948, he was a member of the Swiss relay team which finished fifth in the 4x10 km relay competition. In the 50 km event he finished 17th and in the 18 km competition he finished 25th.

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Max Müller (Catholic intellectual)

Max Müller (6 September 1906 in Offenburg, Baden – 18 October 1994 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German philosopher and influential post-World War II Catholic intellectual. Müller was Professor at the University of Freiburg and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Life

Müller graduated in 1930 along with the philosopher Martin Honecker. He established himself in 1937 with a work on Thomas Aquinas ("Reality and Rationality"'). At this time he was active in the Catholic Youth Movement who were influenced by their study with Martin Heidegger, generating their own thinking in engagement with his philosophy. During the Third Reich they were opponents of Nazism. Falling foul of Nazi educational policies, Müller was dismissed by Heidegger from research positions.

He became active as a lecturer at the Catholic Collegium Borromaeum in Freiburg. After the war he succeeded the late Martin Honecker in his academic positions at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg.