The Brothers Grimm, Jacob (January 4, 1785 - September 20, 1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (February 24, 1786 - December 16, 1859), were German academics who were best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales, which became popular. Jacob also did academic work in linguistics, related to how the sounds in words shift over time (Grimm's law), and together they wrote a German dictionary.