Biography
Wolfson was born in Astryna (Yiddish: Ostrin), Grodno Governorate, Vilna Governorate (in present-day Shchuchyn district, Grodno Region, Belarus), and in his youth he studied at the Slabodka Yeshiva under Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein. In September 1908, he arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts and earned his bachelors degree and Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he remained (excepting the years 1912–1914) for the rest of his career. R.D. Crouse, the scholar of early medieval theology, was among his students.
Wolfson was a professor at Harvard University for approximately half a century, and was a student and friend both of George Santayana and George Foot Moore. He received honorary degrees from 10 different universities (Twersky 1975), and was a founding member and president of the American Academy for Jewish Research. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 20, 1974. His brother Nathan survived him by 27 years, living to age 101 until 2001.
Read more about this topic: Harry Austryn Wolfson
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