Gertrud Seidmann


Gertrud Seidmann, was an Austrian-British linguist and jewellery historian, specialising in engraved gems.
Her first career was as a linguist, teaching German and applied linguistics at Battersea County School, the University of Oxford, and the University of Southampton: she was awarded the Goethe Medal in 1968. She formally retired in 1979 and dedicated herself to researching jewellery and engraved gems, becoming a research associate of the Institute of Archaeology and of Oxford's Beazley Archive.
In 2004, Seidmann matriculated into Wolfson College, Oxford to study for a Master of Letters research degree. She thereby became the University of Oxford's oldest ever student. She went on to undertake research towards a doctorate in the School of Archaeology. In 2011, due to ill health and at the age of 91, she ended her studies and was awarded a Certificate of Graduate Attainment by the university.

Honours

In 1985, Seidmann was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1986.
In 1999, a Festschrift was published in her honour: it was titled Classicism to Neo-classicism: Essays dedicated to Gertrud Seidmann, and was edited by Martin Henig and Dimitris Plantzos.

Selected works

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