Yuri Knorozov
| Yuri Knorozov | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Yuriy Valentinovich Knorozov Юрий Валентинович Кнорозов November 19, 1922 Kharkiv, Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic |
| Died | March 31, 1999 (aged 76) Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Fields | linguist, epigrapher |
| Institutions | N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology (IEA) |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Known for | Maya script |
| Influenced | Galina Yershova |
Yuriy Valentinovich Knorozov (alternatively Knorosov; Russian: Ю́рий Валенти́нович Кноро́зов; November 19, 1922 – March 31, 1999) was a Soviet linguistepigrapher and ethnographer, who is particularly renowned for the pivotal role his research played in the decipherment of the Maya script, the writing system used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica.
Knorozov was born in a village near Kharkiv in Ukraine, at that time the capital of the newly formed Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. His parents were Russian intellectuals, and his paternal grandmother had been a stage actress of national repute in Armenia.
At school, the young Yuri was a difficult and somewhat eccentric student, who made indifferent progress in a number of subjects and was almost expelled for poor and willful behaviour. However, it became clear that he was academically bright with an inquisitive temperament; he was an accomplished violinist, wrote romantic poetry and could draw with accuracy and attention to detail.
In 1940 at the age of 17, Knorozov left Kharkiv for Moscow where he commenced undergraduate studies in the newly created Department of Ethnology at Moscow State University's faculty of History. He initially specialised in Egyptology.
Knorozov's study plans were soon interrupted by the outbreak of World War II hostilities along the Eastern Front in mid-1941. From 1943 to 1945 Knorozov served his term in the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War in the Red Army as an artillery spotter.
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