LINGUIST

Benjamin Lee Whorf

1897 - 1941

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Benjamin Atwood Lee Whorf (; April 24, 1897 – July 26, 1941) was an American linguist and fire prevention engineer best known for proposing the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. He believed that the structures of different languages shape how their speakers perceive and conceptualize the world. Whorf saw this idea, named after him and his mentor Edward Sapir, as having implications similar to those of Einstein's principle of physical relativity. However, the concept originated from 19th-century philosophy and thinkers like Wilhelm von Humboldt and Wilhelm Wundt. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Benjamin Lee Whorf is the 37th most popular linguist, the 1,747th most popular biography from United States (down from 1,582nd in 2019) and the 5th most popular American Linguist.

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Among LINGUISTS

Among linguists, Benjamin Lee Whorf ranks 37 out of 214. Before him are Nikolai Trubetzkoy, Ignác Goldziher, Bedřich Hrozný, Louis Hjelmslev, Georg Friedrich Grotefend, and Nicholas Marr. After him are Friedrich August Wolf, Michel Bréal, Vasily Radlov, Alexandre de Rhodes, Boris Kolker, and Joseph Greenberg.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1897, Benjamin Lee Whorf ranks 62. Before him are Vlado Chernozemski, Emil Maurice, Gershom Scholem, Ye Jianying, I. I. Chundrigar, and Herbert Gille. After him are Theodor Busse, Ngô Đình Thục, Yeghishe Charents, Dmitry Pavlov, Adolf Heusinger, and Sepp Herberger. Among people deceased in 1941, Benjamin Lee Whorf ranks 46. Before him are Annie Jump Cannon, Christian Rakovsky, Mikhail Kirponos, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Sisowath Monivong, and Tullio Levi-Civita. After him are Hans Driesch, Paul-Jacques Curie, Dmitry Pavlov, Franz Gürtner, Gottfried Feder, and Maria Spiridonova.

Others Born in 1897

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Others Deceased in 1941

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Benjamin Lee Whorf ranks 1,747 out of 20,380. Before him are Bernard Herrmann (1911), Richard Farnsworth (1920), Robert Sheckley (1928), Abigail Adams (1744), Alan Kay (1940), and Gerald Carr (1932). After him are Iris Apfel (1921), Snoop Dogg (1971), Linda Evans (1942), Dionne Warwick (1940), Tom Lister Jr. (1958), and Owen Garriott (1930).

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Among LINGUISTS In United States

Among linguists born in United States, Benjamin Lee Whorf ranks 5. Before him are Noam Chomsky (1928), William James Sidis (1898), Noah Webster (1758), and Leonard Bloomfield (1887). After him are Joseph Greenberg (1915), Joshua Fishman (1926), William Labov (1927), George Lakoff (1941), Morris Swadesh (1909), Stephen Krashen (1941), and George Kingsley Zipf (1902).

American born Linguists

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