John Chadwick

John Chadwick (21 May 1920 – 24 November 1998) was an English linguist and classical scholar most famous for his role in deciphering Linear B, along with Michael Ventris.

Early life and education

He was born in Brooklyn, NY and educated at St Christopher's School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and he served as an officer the Royal Navy's Special Branch during the Second World War.

After the war he was on the staff of the "Oxford Classical Dictionary" before beginning a Classics lectureship at Cambridge in 1952. That year he began working with Ventris on the progressive decipherment of Linear B, the two writing "Documents in Mycenean Greek" in 1956 following a controversial first paper three years earlier. Chadwick's philological skills were applied to Ventris' initial theory that Linear B was an early form of Greek rather than another Mediterranean language.

After Ventris' death Chadwick became the figurehead of the Linear B work, writing the accessible popular book "The Decipherment of Linear B" in 1958 and revising "Documents in Mycenean Greek" in 1978.

He retired in 1984, by which time he had become the fourth (and last) Perceval Maitland Laurence Reader in Classics at Cambridge. He continued his scholarship until his death, being an active member of several prestigious international societies and writing numerous popular and academic articles.

Family

He married Joan Hill in 1947 and they had one son.

Publications

*
*
*

See also

* Linear B, Mycenaean Greek, Mycenaean Greece
* Michael Ventris