Edme-François Jomard

Edme-François Jomard

Edme-François Jomard (French: [ʒɔmaʁ]; 1777 – September 22, 1862[1]) was a French cartographer, engineer, and archaeologist. He edited the Description de L'Égypte and was a member of the Institut d'Egypte established by Napoleon. He supervised the educational and cultural mission sent to France from Egypt by Muhammad Ali of Egypt.

Life

He was educated at the collège Mazarin, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées and the École polytechnique. He took part in Napoleon's commission to Egypt. He later worked at the Bibliothèque nationale.[2]

Description de l'Égypte

The publication of the landmark, outsized Description de l'Égypte (Description of Egypt) was decreed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. This seminal publication on Egyptology was a collaboration effort of some 150 prominent French scientist and scholars and 2,000 technicians and artists. It is the record of Bonaparte's Commission des Sciences et des Arts that accompanied the ill-fated French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798-1801)."[3]

Learned Societies

Jomard was one of the founding members of the Société de Géographie in Paris.[4] Through his membership of the society, he was involved in awarding the French explorer, René Caillié, the 10,000 Franc prize for being the first European to return from Timbuktu. He also contributed to, and edited, Caillié's account of his travels, Journal d'un voyage à Temboctou et à Jenné dans l'Afrique Centrale, ... which was published in 1830. The work was translated into English and published as Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo; and across the Great Desert, to Morocco,....[5] He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1855.[6]

Jomard Award

The Jomard Award was established by the Société de Géographie in 1882 for auxiliary sciences and services provided to the French Geographical Society ("Prix pour les sciences auxiliares et pour services rendus á la Société de Géographie").[7]

Recipients

Notes

  1. ↑ Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 692.
  2. ↑ Arthur Goldschmidt, Biographical Dictionary of Modern Egypt (2000), p. 98; Google Books.
  3. ↑ Root, Nina J. 2012. "Egypt Revealed." IN: Baione, Tom. 2012. Natural histories: extraordinary rare book selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library. New York, NY: Sterling Signature. Page 81.
  4. ↑ Quella-Villéger 2012, p. 148-149.
  5. ↑ Quella-Villéger 2012, p. 162.
  6. ↑ American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
  7. ↑ "Les 54 prix de fondation" (in French). Société de Géographie. Retrieved 6 December 2013.

Sources

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