German Orientalist noted for his Semitic and Islāmic studies, which included a history of the Qurʾān (1859).

After holding several academic posts, Nöldeke became professor of Oriental languages at the University of Strasbourg (1872–1906), then within the German Empire. His large contribution to the history of Semitic languages included the publication of several grammars. His other scholarly works included Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden (1879; “History of the Persians and Arabs to the Sāsānid Period”), a version of the Arabic chronicle of aṭ-Ṭabarī. Among his works intended for a general readership were Orientalische Skizzen (1892; Sketches from Eastern History, 1892) and a life of Muḥammad (1863).