Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born in barnet”. Today it says “english professor emeritus at the harvard divinity school and a former editor-in-chief of the dead sea scrolls”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
John Strugnell (May 25, 1930, Barnet , Hertfordshire , England – November 30, 2007, Boston , Massachusetts ) was an English Professor Emeritus at the Harvard Divinity School and a former editor-in-chief of the Dead Sea Scrolls project.1 Strugnell became, at 23, the youngest member of the team of scholars led by Roland de Vaux , formed in 1954 to edit the Dead Sea Scrolls in Jerusalem . He was studying Oriental languages at Jesus College, Oxford when Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver , a lecturer in Semitic philology, nominated him to join the Scrolls editorial team. Although Strugnell had no previous experience in palaeography , he learned very quickly how to read the scrolls.2 He would be involved in the Dead Sea Scrolls project for more than 40 years.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1177566262.
The opening as it stood in 2010
John Strugnell in 1954 Strugnell working in the 'Scrollery' John Strugnell , (May 25, 1930 – November 30, 2007) was born in Barnet , Hertfordshire , UK . At the age of 23 he became the youngest member of the team of scholars led by Roland de Vaux , formed in 1954 to edit the Dead Sea Scrolls in Jerusalem . He was studying Oriental languages at Jesus College, Oxford when Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver , a lecturer in Semitic philology, nominated him to join the Scrolls editorial team. Although Strugnell had no previous experience in palaeography he learned very quickly to read the Scrolls . He would be involved in the Dead Sea Scrolls project for more than forty years.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 361788571.
The opening as it stood in 2015
John Strugnell in 1954 Strugnell working in the 'Scrollery' John Strugnell (May 25, 1930 – November 30, 2007) was born in Barnet , Hertfordshire , UK . At the age of 23 he became the youngest member of the team of scholars led by Roland de Vaux , formed in 1954 to edit the Dead Sea Scrolls in Jerusalem . He was studying Oriental languages at Jesus College, Oxford when Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver , a lecturer in Semitic philology, nominated him to join the Scrolls editorial team. Although Strugnell had no previous experience in palaeography he learned very quickly to read the scrolls . He would be involved in the Dead Sea Scrolls project for more than forty years. John Strugnell died in Boston , Massachusetts , on November 30, 2007.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660066761.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
John Strugnell in 1954 John Strugnell (May 25, 1930, Barnet , Hertfordshire , England – November 30, 2007, Boston , Massachusetts ) became, at 23, the youngest member of the team of scholars led by Roland de Vaux , formed in 1954 to edit the Dead Sea Scrolls in Jerusalem . He was studying Oriental languages at Jesus College, Oxford when Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver , a lecturer in Semitic philology, nominated him to join the Scrolls editorial team. Although Strugnell had no previous experience in palaeography , he learned very quickly how to read the scrolls. He would be involved in the Dead Sea Scrolls project for more than 40 years.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962425983.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Strugnell became, at 23, the youngest member of the team of scholars led by Roland de Vaux , formed in 1954 to edit the Dead Sea Scrolls in Jerusalem . He was studying Oriental languages at Jesus College, Oxford when Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver , a lecturer in Semitic philology, nominated him to join the Scrolls editorial team. Although Strugnell had no previous experience in palaeography , he learned quickly how to read the scrolls. He would be involved in the Dead Sea Scrolls project for more than 40 years.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1290485070. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born in barnet”. Today it says “english professor emeritus at the harvard divinity school and a former editor-in-chief of the dead sea scrolls”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
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What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
born in barnet
Now
english professor emeritus at the harvard divinity school and a former editor-in-chief of the dead sea scrolls
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
