BREASTED, JAMES HENRY

(1865–1935)

   American Egyptologist. He was born in Rockford, Illinois, on 27 August 1865. He studied at Yale University and later in Berlin. Breasted obtained a post at the University of Chicago in 1895, where later in 1905 he became professor of egyptology. With funds from John D. Rockefeller, he founded the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, which became the leading research and teaching center for Near Eastern studies in the United States. He also directed expeditions in Egypt and published translations of Egyptian historical texts. He died in New York on 2 December 1935.