Given the question: Facts: - birth date: 24 march 1934 - name: robert william thomson - nationality: british - birth place: london , england - occupation: professor , scholar of armenian studies Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of robert w. thomson .
The answer is:
robert william thomson -lrb- b. 24 march 1934 , cheam , london uk -rrb- is retired calouste gulbenkian professor of armenian studies at oxford university .when an armenian studies professorship was established in the faculty of arts and sciences at the harvard university in 1969 , thomson was appointed to the chair which was subsequently named in honor of armenian saint and scholar mesrob mashtots .thomson held this position until 1992 , when he accepted the gulbenkian chair in armenian studies at oxford university in england .in 1984 -- 1989 he was the director of the dumbarton oaks research library and collection .thomson has translated into english several old armenian , syriac and greek texts as well as having written two textbooks on the armenian language .