Popper was born on October 29, 1874, in
St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Simon Popper and Barbara Cohn. Popper later moved to
New York City and attended
Brooklyn public schools and the
College of the City of New York. He then attended
Columbia University, graduating from there with an A.B. in 1896, an A.M. in 1897, and a Ph.D. in 1899. His doctoral dissertation was
The Censorship of Hebrew Books. He then went abroad, studying at the
University of Strasbourg, the
University of Berlin, the Seminar für Orientalische Sprachen in Berlin, the
Ecole Speciale des Langues Orientales Vivantes, the
Ecole des Hautes Etudes, and the
College de France. He was in Europe from 1899 to 1901, followed by travels all over the Middle East from 1901 to 1902. He was also acting chief of the
New York Public Library's oriental department during that time. In 1905, he became an instructor of Semitic languages for the
University of California, Berkeley. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1906, associate professor in 1915, and professor in 1922. He briefly returned to Columbia to teach Semitic languages from 1919 to 1920. He retired as professor in 1945, but maintained an office on campus until he died. In 1906, Popper married Tess Magnes. The wedding was performed by Tess' brother
Judah Leon Magnes. Their children were William Popper Jr., Mrs. Ruth Eisen, UCLA astronomer Dr.
Daniel Popper, and Joel Popper. == References ==