Gustav Neckel

Gustav Neckel (born 17 January 1878 in Wismar, died 24 November 1940 in Dresden) was a German scholar of medieval German studies and Old Norse.

His parents were Gustav Neckel (1844–1923), an industrialist and businessman, and Amanda, née Paetow (1854–1914).

After completing his Abitur in Wismar in 1896, Neckel studied German philology at Munich (1896–1897), Leipzig (1897–1898) and Berlin (1898–1902), from where he received his doctorate in 1900 under Andreas Heusler. He then worked as a teacher until completing his Habilitation and becoming a lecturer at the University of Breslau in 1909.

Beginning in 1911, he was Professor of Old Norse at Heidelberg University, then in 1919–1920 at Berlin. From summer semester 1920 until 1935 he succeeded Heusler as Professor of Germanic Studies, with emphasis on the Scandinavian languages. From 1935 to 1937 he was founding Head of the Old Norse Division of the Department of Germanic Studies at the University of Göttingen, then from 1937 to 1940 Professor of Germanic Philology at Berlin, where he was, however, unable to work due to illness; he had a "nervous condition" from which he had barely recovered when he died suddenly of a pulmonary infection.

Neckel's career was disturbed by conflict with Bernhard Kummer and an accusation that he had seduced a student, which led to his being forced to leave Berlin and move to Göttingen; the chair, the most prominent in the field, came with him and a new division was created for him within the Göttingen Department of Germanic Studies.

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