Josip Hamm was a Croatian

Croats

Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

 Slavist.

Biography

Hamm was born in the village of Gat near Belišće

Belišce

Belišće is a city in Croatia, located in the region of Slavonia, Osijek - Baranja county, at the altitude of 93 m. The population of the city is 6,493 , with 10,790 in the municipality. In 2001 census, the majority were Croats...

 and Valpovo

Valpovo

Valpovo is a town in Slavonia, Croatia. It is close to the Drava river in the region of Slavonia, northwest of Osijek. The population of Valpovo is 7,396, with a total of 11,570 in the municipality.-Demographics:...

. In 1924 he finished the classical gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

 in Osijek

Osijek

Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...

, and in 1929 he graduated in Slavic and Germanic studies at the University of Zagreb

University of Zagreb

The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...

.

He worked as a lecturer at the gymnasiums in Pristina

Pristina

Pristina, also spelled Prishtina and Priština is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality and district....

, Karlovac

Karlovac

Karlovac is a city and municipality in central Croatia. The city proper has a population of 49,082, while the municipality has a population of 59,395 inhabitants .Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County...

 and Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

. In 1931 he became a part-time lector

Lector

Lector is a Latin term for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages the word has come to take various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as , , and . It has various specialized uses:...

 for Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

 at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. In 1934 he receives his Ph.D. with the thesis Matija Petar Katančić, njegova djela i njegov dijalekt ('Matija Petar Katančić

Matija Petar Katancic

Matija Petar Katančić was a Croatian writer, professor of aesthetics and archaeology, lexicographer, numismatist.-Biography:As a bootmaker's son from Valpovo, he received his initial education in his native town, to continue his further education in Pecz, Budim, Baia and Szegedin. He had begun his...

, his works and dialect'). In 1946 he became permanent lector for Polish. In 1948 he received a position of docent for Slavic philology, with special care for Old Church Slavonic

Old Church Slavonic

Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...

. He became an associate professor in 1954, and a tenured professor in 1958.

In 1960 he accepted the position of a regular professor of Slavic philology at the Department for Slavic studies of the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

, as well as the position of the head of the Institute for Slavic philology in Vienna. He also served as the head of the Linguistic department of Balkan commission (founded by Vatroslav Jagić

Vatroslav Jagic

Vatroslav Jagić was a Croatian language researcher and a famous expert in Slavic languages in the second half of the 19th century.-Life:...

 in 1897) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

Austrian Academy of Sciences

The Austrian Academy of Sciences is a legal entity under the special protection of the Federal Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every field, particularly in fundamental research...

. He was a regular member of the Austrian as well as the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts.

In 1952 together with Svetozar Rittig and Vjekoslav Štefanić he founded the Old Church Slavonic Institute

Old Church Slavonic Institute

The Old Church Slavonic Institute is Croatian public institute founded in 1952 by the state for the purpose of scientific research on the language, literature and paleography of the mediaeval literary heritage of the Croatian vernacular and the Croatian recension of Church Slavonic.-History:The...

 in Zagreb, under whose patronage the journal Slovo was published.
Hamm died in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

at the age of 81, and was buried in Zagreb.