Jean François Champollion le Jeune (1790-1832) studied Egyptian hieroglyphics. At the beginning he thought that he could decipher this system of writing by using the Coptic language from which he believed Ancient Egyptian developed. But he was proved to be terribly wrong. When he realized that he was just lying to himself, he stopped trying to decipher the hieroglyphics with the help of the Coptic language and turned to the study of the hieroglyphics as an independent system of writing. The study of the Rosetta Stone, a slab of basalt with inscriptions dating from 197 BC permitted him to discover the mysteries of the hieroglyphic system of writing in 1824. Champollion enjoyed great popularity among his contemporaries. Today he is considered the founder of Egyptology.