Emeritus Faculty

Kenneth Northcott, UChicago Scholar, Translator, and Actor, 1922-2019

Kenneth Northcott

Prof. Emeritus Kenneth Northcott lived a vibrant existence, which was often filled with drama—in the classroom, on the stage, and in the British Intelligence Corps after World War II. A renowned University of Chicago scholar of Germanic studies, actor, and translator of significant authors, Northcott passed away June 4 in Chicago at age 96. “Northcott stood out for his brilliance as a teacher, translator, and actor and for his warmth and outgoing personality,” said Françoise Meltzer, the Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature, the Divinity School, and the College.

Eric P. Hamp, Renowned Scholar of Indo-European Linguistics, 1920-2019

Eric P. Hamp

During his 41-year career at the University of Chicago, Professor Emeritus Eric P. Hamp became one of the world’s foremost scholars of Indo-European linguistics. Not only did he base much of his scholarship on lesser-known languages and dialects, but his colleagues said he rescued many of the obscure ones. Hamp, who passed away on Feb. 17 at age 98, compared modern languages to reconstruct how our common ancestors spoke thousands of years ago—long before language was recorded. 

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