Thomas Oden Lambdin is one of the leading scholars of the Semitic and Egyptian languages.
He was appointed as an associate professor of Semitic Languages at Harvard University in 1964.
He retired from Harvard in 1983 and is Professor Emeritus.
He was admired not only for his research and his "tireless teaching", but for the quality of his introductory textbooks on Biblical Hebrew, Coptic, Ge'ez and Gothic language.
His students John Huehnergard and Richard J.
Clifford have written about their experiences as his students.