Sir James George Frazer (January 1, 1854 – May 7, 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist who made major contributions to the study of mythology and comparative religion, most notably The Golden Bough. He was born in Glasgow the son of a chemist. He attended Springfield Academy and Larchfield Academy, then University of Glasgow and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with honors in Classics and remained a Classical Fellow for the rest of his life. His source material was gleaned primarily ancient histories and questionnaires mailed to missionaries and imperial officials posted all over the world, from which he assembles an encyclopedia of magical and religious beliefs.  He was the first scholar to show similarities in rituals and beliefs from different cultures and to examine the relationships between myths and rituals. He was a proponent of the Darwinian notion of human understanding of the world progressing through three stages, rising from magic through religion and culminating in science, but also divined the importance of an eternal and symbolic cycle of life underlying much mythology and religion.   As such, he is often considered one of the founders of modern anthropology. His work was a major influence on 20^th century poets and artists, most notable T.S. Eliot in the Waste Land. He was knighted in 1914.