Braun, Thomas 1935-2008 (Thomas Felix Rudolf Gerhard Braun, Conrad Peregrinus)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born August 30, 1935, in Berlin, Germany; died of injuries sustained in an auto accident, September 24, 2008. Classicist, ancient historian, educator, poet, translator, and editor. Braun spent his forty-year career at Merton College, Oxford, where he lectured in classics and ancient history until 2002. He spent his free time on the road, exploring the treasures of the Mediterranean, the Middle and Far East, and South Asia. His specialty was Greek culture, past and present, but he spoke many languages and studied the cultural heritage and historical legacy of all the lands he visited, from Europe to India to China. Braun wrote light verse for British magazines and translated the poetry of others. He wrote articles for academic journals about the exploits of the ancient Greeks beyond their borders and about their food manufacturing technology at home, especially the processing of grain into bread. His books, however, seem to reflect interests that he did not pursue in the classroom. He edited Christ Church Meadow (1965) in an attempt to prevent a road-building project that he saw as a threat to a local natural haven; his effort was a success. He also edited a book by Ilse Rosenthal-Schneider, Reality and Scientific Truth: Discussions with Einstein, Von Laue, and Planck (1980). Most unusual, perhaps, was the book he published under the pseudonym Conrad Peregrinus. A Journey to Springistan (1971) was Braun's retranslation into English of a German translation by Kurt Friedländer of Gulliver's Travels, originally published in English by Jonathan Swift in the year 1726.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), October 27, 2008, p. 53.