John Chadwick, (21 May 1920 – 24 November 1998) was an English linguist and classical scholar who was most notable for the decipherment, with Michael Ventris, of Linear B.

Early life, education and wartime service

John Chadwick was born at 18 Christ Church Road,

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. For many cen ...

, Surrey, on 21 May 1920, the younger son of Margaret Pamela (''née'' Bray) and Fred Chadwick, civil servant. He was educated at St Paul's School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Chadwick volunteered for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

in 1940 after completing the first year of his classics course at Cambridge. At first he served in the Mediterranean as an ordinary seaman aboard the light cruiser HMS Coventry and saw action when his ship was torpedoed by an Italian submarine and dive-bombed. In 1942 he was sent ashore at

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

for an interview by the Chief of Naval Intelligence and was immediately assigned to intelligence duties in Egypt and promoted to Temporary Sub Lieutenant in the RNVR. Thereafter he worked on Italian codes."John Chadwick, 1920–1998"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 1998-12-03, page 22."Life of John Chadwick : 1920 – 1998 : Classical Philologist, Lexicographer and Co-decipherer of Linear B"
, Faculty of Classics, Cambridge University Chadwick deduced from some R/T traffic meant to be handled at Bletchley Park that a British submarine had been sunk near Taranto. In 1944, he was transferred to Bletchley Park ("Station X"), learned Japanese, and worked on reading the encoded messages sent by the Japanese naval representatives in Stockholm and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. After the end of the war in 1945, he returned to his studies at Cambridge, graduating with First Class Honours in Classics Part II, with a distinction in his special subject, linguistics. While studying at Corpus Christi College, he attempted, with some of his fellow students, to use cryptographic methods to decipher the "Minoan Linear Script B". They were already aware at the time of the work of Michael Ventris. They stopped working actively on the problem owing to a lack of published data from inscriptions.

Career

In 1950 he published his first scholarly work, an edition of ''The Medical Works of Hippocrates'', co-authored with his cousin, William Neville Mann, a distinguished physician. After finishing his degree, he joined the staff of the '' Oxford Latin Dictionary'' before beginning a Classics lectureship at Cambridge in 1952. In July that year he heard a radio broadcast by Michael Ventris about his work on Linear B and offered his help as "a mere philologist". The men began to collaborate on the progressive decipherment of Linear B, writing ''Documents in Mycenean Greek'' in 1956, following a controversial first paper three years earlier. Chadwick's

philological Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as t ...

ideas were applied to Ventris's initial theory that Linear B was an early form of Greek rather than another Mediterranean language. After Ventris's death, Chadwick became the figurehead of the Linear B work, writing the accessible and 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 Sir Perceval Maitland Laurence (20 April 185428 February 1930) was an English classical scholar, judge in South Africa and a benefactor of the University of Cambridge and the University of Cape Town. Early life and education Perceval Maitland ...

Reader in Classics at Cambridge. He continued his scholarship until his death, being an active member of several international societies and writing numerous popular and academic articles. He was also a Fellow of the British Academy and of Downing College, Cambridge.

Family

Chadwick married Joan Hill in 1947 and they had one son, Camden Chadwick.

Publications

* * * *

Decorations and awards

* 1992:

Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian ...

* 1997:

International Antonio Feltrinelli Prize The Feltrinelli Prize (from the Italian "Premio Feltrinelli", also known as "International Feltrinelli Prize" or "Antonio Feltrinelli Prize") is an award for achievement in the arts, music, literature, history, philosophy, medicine, and physical and ...

References