The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Kirchhoff, Johann Wilhelm Adolf

KIRCHHOFF, kērk'hŏf, Johann Wilhelm Adolf, German writer and classical scholar: b. Berlin, 1826; d. 1908. Educated in his native city he was a teacher in various colleges, finally becoming professor in Berlin University (1865-1908). He was an indefatigable worker in the field of classical philology, linguistics, mythology and antiquities. A great deal of his investigations saw the light in print, hence his publications are many, and all of them are distinguished by depth of thought, excellent judgment and careful and minute investigation. Among the most noteworthy of his published works are ‘Umbrische Sprachdenkmäler’ (1849-51); ‘Die Stadtrecht von Bantia’ (1853); ‘Euripides’ (1855); ‘Die homerische Odyssee und ihre Entstehung’ (1859); ‘Ueber die Entstehungszeit des herodotischen Geschichtswerkes’ (1870); ‘Studien zur Geschichte des griesischen Alphabets’ (1874); ‘Thucydides und sein Uhrkundenmaterial’ (1895), and edited editions of ‘Plotinus’ (1856); ‘Æschylus’ (1880); ‘Respublica Atheniensium’ (1881); ‘Christian Inscriptions.’