Leo Wiener
Leo Wiener was an American historian, linguist, author and translator.Biography
Wiener was born in Bialystok, of Polish-Jewish origin. His father was Zalmen Wiener, and his mother was Frejda Rabinowicz. He studied at the University of Warsaw in 1880, and then at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. Wiener later declared, "Having 'for many years been a member of the Unitarian Church,' and having 'preached absolute amalgamation with the Gentile surroundings', 'never allied with the Jewish Church or with Jews as such."
Wiener left Europe with the plan of founding a vegetarian commune in British Honduras. He sailed steerage to New Orleans. On his arrival, in 1880, he had no money. After travel and work around the US, he went to Kansas City, Missouri, and started working as a teacher. He was a polyglot, and was reputed to speak thirty languages well.
Beginning in 1896, Wiener lectured on Slavic cultures at Harvard University and became the first American professor of Slavic literature. He translated 24 volumes of Leo Tolstoy's works into English, a task which he completed in 24 months. He taught George Rapall Noyes.Major works
In 1893 Wiener married Bertha Kahn. The mathematician Norbert Wiener was their son.
