Isaac Jacob Schmidt - Research Work

Research Work

His work gave Schmidt an opportunity for frequent business contacts with the local Kalmyks, and he eventually learnt both the Kalmyk and the classical Mongolian script. At the same time, he began collecting Kalmyk and Mongolian manuscripts and keeping records on Kalmyk language, religion and history. From 1807 to 1812 Schmidt worked for his church in Saratov. In 1812, he married his wife Helena Wigand. In the same year, his church sent him to Moscow and then to St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, many of his records and collected manuscripts were destroyed in the fire of Moscow of that year.

In 1812, Julius Klaproth's Dissertation on language and script of the Uighurs (Abhandlung über die Sprache und Schrift der Uiguren) became the subject of a long-standing dispute. Klaproth asserted that Uighur was a Turkic language, while Schmidt was persuaded that Uighur should be classified as a "Tangut" language.

In the following years, Schmidt concentrated on translations of the Bible into Kalmyk and Mongolian. His scientific work became noted after the publication of a work on the history of Mongols and Tibetans in 1824. His daughter Emilie was born in 1828. Until his death in 1847, Schmidt published a multitude of works on Mongolian and Tibetan studies, and became member of a number of different European academic societies.