Career
Dorn specialized in the history and languages of Iran, Russia, and Afghanistan. At Leipzig University he was a Private Senior Lecturer. 1827 he became Head of the Department of Oriental Languages at Kharkov University and 1835 Professor of history and geography at the Foreign Ministry Institute of Oriental Languages.
He taught Sanskrit and Pashtu at Saint St. Petersburg University.
In 1829 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician. He was appointed Director of the Asiatic Museum in 1842 and Director of the Ethnographic Museum in 1855.