William Dwight Whitney

William Dwight Whitney (/ˈwɪtni/; February 9, 1827–June 7, 1894) was an American linguist, philologist, and lexicographer who edited The Century Dictionary.

Life

William Dwight Whitney was born in Northampton, Massachusetts on February 9, 1827. His father was Josiah Dwight Whitney (1786–1869) of the New England Dwight family. His mother was Sarah Williston (1800–1833).

He entered Williams College at fifteen, graduating in 1845. He continued studying and worked at a bank in Northampton for several years, then assisted his older brother Josiah Whitney on a geological survey of the Lake Superior region in 1849. On this expedition, he began the study of Sanskrit in his leisure hours. In 1850 he went to Germany, and for three years studied Sanskrit. He spent his winters at Berlin under Albrecht Weber and Franz Bopp, the summers being devoted to work under Rudolf von Roth at Tübingen.

He gained wide reputation for his scholarship in the field. At Yale, he became professor of Sanskrit in 1854, adding comparative philology in 1869. He also taught modern languages at the Sheffield Scientific School. He served as secretary to the American Oriental Society from 1857 until he became its president in 1884.

WD

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Wądół, Pomeranian Voivodeship

Wądół [ˈvɔnduu̯] (German: Charlottental) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kołczygłowy, within Bytów County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately 13 kilometres (8 mi) south of Kołczygłowy, 16 km (10 mi) west of Bytów, and 93 km (58 mi) west of the regional capital Gdańsk.

For details of the history of the region, see History of Pomerania.

The village has a population of 82.

References

Coordinates: 54°7′48″N 17°16′2″E / 54.13000°N 17.26722°E / 54.13000; 17.26722

Emperor Wu of Han

Emperor Wu of Han (30 June 156 BC – 29 March 87 BC), born Liu Che, courtesy name Tong, was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of China, ruling from 141–87 BC.

Emperor Wu's reign lasted 54 years — a record that was not broken until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor more than 1,800 years later, although he has remained the longest reigning Emperor of Han ethnicity. His reign resulted in vast territorial expansion, development of a strong and centralized state resulting from his governmental re-organization, including his promotion of Confucian doctrines. In the field of historical social and cultural studies, Emperor Wu is known for his religious innovations and patronage of the poetic and musical arts, including development of the imperial Music Bureau into a prestigious entity. It was also during his reign that cultural contact with western Eurasia was greatly increased, directly or indirectly. Many new crops and other items were introduced to China during his reign.

As a military campaigner, Emperor Wu led Han China through its greatest expansion — at its height, the Empire's borders spanned from modern Kyrgyzstan in the west, to Korea in the east, and to northern Vietnam in the south. Emperor Wu successfully repelled the nomadic Xiongnu from systematically raiding northern China, and dispatched his envoy Zhang Qian in 139 BC to seek an alliance with the Yuezhi of modern Uzbekistan. This resulted in further missions to Central Asia. Although historical records do not describe him to be aware of Buddhism, emphasizing rather his interest in shamanism, the cultural exchanges that occurred as a consequence of these embassies suggest that he received Buddhist statues from Central Asia, as depicted in the murals found in the Mogao Caves.