Lorenz Franz Kielhorn (31 May 1840, Osnabrück – 19 March 1908, Göttingen) was a German Indologist.
He studied under Theodor Benfey at the University of Göttingen, where he became member of Burschenschaft Hannovera (fraternity),[1] and under Adolf Friedrich Stenzler at Breslau and with Albrecht Weber in Berlin.[2] In 1862-65 he worked in Oxford, where he assisted Monier Williams in the production of a Sanskrit dictionary.[3] While here, he also consulted with Friedrich Max Müller, when the latter was working on his first edition of Rigveda.[4] From 1866 to 1881 he was a professor of Sanskrit at Deccan College in Pune, and after 1882, a professor at the University of Göttingen.[2]
Kielhorn's results from the handling of rich material that he himself partially collected and partially got sent, is mainly explained in Indian antiquary and Epigraphia Indica.[5] After the death of Georg Bühler (1837-1898), he edited the "Grundriss der indoarischen Philologie". Together with Bühler, Kielhorn had initiated the series Bombay Sanskrit Series.[6]
In 1887, Kielhorn was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) for his services in Pune. He received the honorary degree Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from the University of Glasgow in June 1901,[7] and the honorary degree Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) from the University of Oxford in June 1902.[8]
