Jacob Grimm Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), one half of of the renowned Brothers Grimm, was a German philologist, jurist, and mythologist. He was also a linguist, and discoverer of "Grimm's law," and wrote several of the West's best known fairy tales along with his broher Wilhelm. He was born in the town of Hanau, in what was at the time the Holy Roman Empire. He was a graduate of the University of Marburg. Read More Read Less