ARCHAEOLOGIST

Jean-François Champollion

1790 - 1832

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Jean-François Champollion (French: [ʒɑ̃ fʁɑ̃swa ʃɑ̃pɔljɔ̃]), also known as Champollion le jeune ('the Younger'; 23 December 1790 – 4 March 1832), was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure in the field of Egyptology. Partially raised by his brother, the scholar Jacques Joseph Champollion-Figeac, Champollion was a child prodigy in philology, giving his first public paper on the decipherment of Demotic in his late teens. As a young man he was renowned in scientific circles, and read Coptic, Ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic. During the early 19th century, French culture experienced a period of 'Egyptomania', brought on by Napoleon's discoveries in Egypt during his campaign there (1798–1801), which also brought to light the trilingual Rosetta Stone. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Jean-François Champollion is the 2nd most popular archaeologist (down from 1st in 2019), the 151st most popular biography from France (down from 69th in 2019) and the most popular French Archaeologist.

Jean-François Champollion is most famous for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs.

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Among ARCHAEOLOGISTS

Among archaeologists, Jean-François Champollion ranks 2 out of 151Before him are Theodor Mommsen. After him are Heinrich Schliemann, Howard Carter, Edward Drinker Cope, Arthur Evans, Den, Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, Colin Renfrew, Semerkhet, Marija Gimbutas, and Johann Friedrich Blumenbach.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1790, Jean-François Champollion ranks 1After him are Leopold I of Belgium, August Ferdinand Möbius, Alphonse de Lamartine, John Tyler, Sunjo of Joseon, George Everest, Jules Dumont d'Urville, John Frederic Daniell, William Parry, Nicolas Chauvin, and Gideon Mantell. Among people deceased in 1832, Jean-François Champollion ranks 4Before him are Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Napoleon II, and Évariste Galois. After him are Walter Scott, Jeremy Bentham, Georges Cuvier, Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, Rasmus Rask, Muzio Clementi, Jean-Baptiste Say, and Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, Queen of Sardinia.

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In France

Among people born in France, Jean-François Champollion ranks 151 out of 6,770Before him are Bernard of Clairvaux (1090), Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122), Roland Barthes (1915), Charles I of Anjou (1226), Gérard Depardieu (1948), and Paul Verlaine (1844). After him are Jacques Lacan (1901), Charles VIII of France (1470), Francis II of France (1544), Charles VI of France (1368), Pope Callixtus II (1065), and Georges Braque (1882).

Among ARCHAEOLOGISTS In France

Among archaeologists born in France, Jean-François Champollion ranks 1After him are Alcide d'Orbigny (1802), Austen Henry Layard (1817), Paul Pelliot (1878), André Leroi-Gourhan (1911), Henri Breuil (1877), Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes (1788), André Parrot (1901), Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet (1821), François Bordes (1919), Victor Loret (1859), and Jean-François Séguier (1703).