A distinguished Jewish orientalist had to convert to obtain a university professorship

Evidence

To have become a professor, however, would have entailed his conversion. This he would not consider, becoming filled with resentment and bitterness for his stymied progress and the practical consequences of that intolerance (more of which will be discussed below). — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 400

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader pattern of Jewish intellectual exclusion and conversion-for-advancement in 19th-century Europe, echoing figures like Disraeli and Heine.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how common was de facto conversion-for-career among Jewish academics in the German-Hungarian academy?