# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/w-norman-brown
# Generated: 2026-08-14T01:27:05.715Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/w-norman-brown"
name: "W. Norman Brown"
slug: "w-norman-brown"
description: "William Norman Brown was an American Indologist and Sanskritist who established the first academic department of South Asian Studies in North America and organized the American Oriental Society in 1926. He was the Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Pennsylvania for most of his academic career. He was president of the Association for Asian Studies in 1960. He is considered the founder of the field of South Asian Studies, which he pioneered in his career over four decades at the University of Pennsylvania, where he helped to found the Department of Oriental Studies (1931), and later single-handedly founded the Department of South Asia Regional Studies (1948). These departments are now survived by the departments of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and South Asia Studies. Brown also founded the American Institute of Indian Studies, which was located in the Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1946."
tagline: "American Indologist (1892–1975)"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
birthDate: "1892-06-24"
deathDate: "1975-04-22"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           38.7
  momentum:             2.93103448275862
  historical:           4.6054
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     30
  profileCompleteness:  35
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF%D8%A8%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88._%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "دبليو. نورمان براون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Norman_Brown"
    title: "W. Norman Brown"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%88._%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%85%D9%86_%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "دابلیو. نورمن براون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gu.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AA%B5%E0%AA%BF%E0%AA%B2%E0%AA%BF%E0%AA%AF%E0%AA%AE_%E0%AA%A8%E0%AB%8B%E0%AA%B0%E0%AB%8D%E0%AA%AE%E0%AA%A8_%E0%AA%AC%E0%AB%8D%E0%AA%B0%E0%AA%BE%E0%AA%89%E0%AA%A8"
    title: "વિલિયમ નોર્મન બ્રાઉન"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Norman_Brown"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7945849"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump