Franz Boas

@Miscellaneous, Life Achievements and Life

Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist who is known as the ‘pioneer of modern anthropology’

Jul 9, 1858

Cancer CelebritiesAmericanIntellectuals & AcademicsAnthropologistsMiscellaneous
Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: July 9, 1858
  • Died on: December 21, 1942
  • Nationality: American
  • Famous: Intellectuals & Academics, Anthropologists, Miscellaneous
  • Birth Place: Minden, Westphalia, Germany
  • Gender: Male
  • Sun Sign: Cancer

Franz Boas born at

Minden, Westphalia, Germany

Unsplash
Birth Place

In 1887, he married Marie Krackowizer in New York. The couple had six children together.

Unsplash
Personal Life

He died at the age of 84 after he suffered a major stroke at the Columbia University Faculty Club, New York.

Unsplash
Personal Life

Franz Uri Boas was born in Minden, Westphalia, Germany, into a Jewish family. His parents were well-educated, liberal and socialized among the elite members of German society.

Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life

From an early age, his parents encouraged him to think independently and pursue his interests.

Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life

He exhibited a keen interest in nature and natural sciences from the age of 5 and studied natural history and the geographic distribution of planets at school.

Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life

He attended the University of Heidelberg for a brief period of time after which he attended the University of Kiel, where he earned a Ph.D. in Physics and a minor in Geography.

Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life

In 1883, he went on a scientific mission to Baffin Islands, Canada, where he studied the ‘Inuit’ culture, collected ethnographic data and became interested in life of the people on the island.

Unsplash
Career

In 1885, he worked with Rudolf Virchow (physical anthropologist) and Adolf Bastian (ethnologist) at the Royal Ethnological Museum, Berlin and also taught geography at the University of Berlin.

Unsplash
Career

In 1887, he went to New York City and took up the post of an assistant editor for a ‘Science’ magazine and also taught anthropology at the Clark University, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Unsplash
Career

In 1888, his first monograph ‘The Central Eskimo’, an account of the ‘domestic occupation and amusements’ of the people in Baffin Islands, was published in the 6th Annual Report in the Bureau of American Ethnology.

Unsplash
Career

In 1889, he was appointed as the head of the Department of Anthropology at Clark University, after which he went on a series of scientific expeditions to illuminate ‘Asaistic-American relations’.

Unsplash
Career

His 1911 publication ‘The Mind of Primitive Man’ is one of his seminal works which is considered an important work in cultural anthropology and cultural relativism. This book laid the foundation for further studies on anthropology and is used for academic purposes.

Unsplash
Major Work