Folklorists Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm were both born in Hanau, Germany. Today they are best known for the collections of folk tales they preserved in modern language.
After studying at Marburg, Jacob became a clerk in the War Office at Kassel, and in 1808 librarian to Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia.
Wilhelm, in poorer health, remained in Kassel, where he became secretary of the elector's library. He was joined there by Jacob in 1816. Between 1812 and 1822 they published the three volumes known as Grimm's Fairy Tales (Ger Kinder und Hausmärchen ).
Jacob's Deutsche Grammatik (1819, Germanic Grammar, revised 1822-- 40) is perhaps the greatest philological work of the age; he also formulated Grimm's law of sound changes.
In 1829 the two removed to Göttingen, where Jacob became professor and librarian, and Wilhelm under- librarian (professor in 1835). In 1841 they both received professorships at Berlin, and in 1854 began work on their historical dictionary, Deutsches Wörterbuch.
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (1785- 1863)
Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786- 1859)