CHAMPOLLION, Jean-François, the YOUNG. - Initiator of modern Egyptology, b. at Figeac (Lot) on 23 Dec. 1790, d. at Paris on 4 March 1832.
He studied Oriental languages in Paris (1807-1809), then (1816) became professor of history at Grenoble. On 27 Sept. 1822 he announced his discovery of the phonetic alphabet used by the Egyptians to transcribe Greek and Roman names (Lettre à M. Dacier relative à l'alphabet des hiéroglyphes phonétiques). Two years later, in the Précis du système hiéroglyphique des anciens Égyptiens, he set out many ideographic and phonetic elements of which Egyptian writing was composed. Member