Jean-François Champollion

Jean-François Champollion, also known as Champollion le jeune, 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.

23 December 1790

Born on the same birth day (23 December): Adly Mansour • Akihito • Bill Rodgers (runner) • Bobby Ross • Carla Bruni • Chet Baker • Dan Bigras • Geoffrey Wheatcroft • James Stockdale • Jim Ferguson • Kevin Longbottom • Manuel Rivera-Ortiz • Michael C. Burgess • Michalis Klokidis • Mitch Haniger • Shaone Morrisonn

Born in the same month (December 1790): Leopold I of Belgium