Gesenius

Gesenius, Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm (1786-1842), a German Orientalist and Biblical critic, was born in Hanover, and studied at the University of Helmstadt under Henke. He then went to Gottingen, where he practised as a privat docent. In 1811 he was appointed professor at Halle, where he taught and spent the rest of his life, save during the war of 1813-14, which closed the University, and two foreign visits which he made in order to carry on his researches into Oriental languages. He did much for Scriptural exegesis and for Semitic philology, and was greatly instrumental in putting Biblical criticism on a more scientific basis.