1790-1832

French Egyptologist, Linguist and Historian

Jean-Francois Champollion was one of the founders of Egyptology as it became a scientific discipline in the nineteenth century. His most important contribution was the deciphering of hieroglyphic writing after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone.

Champollion was born in 1790 in Figeac, France. He is sometimes called "Champollion le jeune," the younger, because his early education proceeded under the supervision of his older brother, the archaeologist Jacques Joseph Champollion. At 10 he was sent to the Lyceum in Grenoble. He was a precocious student of languages from an early age, teaching himself Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Chaldean, and Chinese as well as the Latin and Greek that were part of the standard curriculum of the day.

As a 16-year-old, Champollion presented a paper to the Grenoble Academy asserting that the language spoken by the contemporary Egyptian Copts was...