Ignace J. Gelb (October 14, 1907 – December 22, 1985) was a Polish - American ancient historian and Assyriologist who pioneered the scientific study of writing systems. Born in Tarnow, Poland, he earned his PhD from the University of Rome in 1929, then went to the University of Chicago where he was a professor of Assyriology until his death. 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ancient history is the study of significant cultural and political events from the beginning of human history until the Early Middle Ages. ... Assyriology is the historical and archaeological study of ancient Mesopotamia. ... A writing system, also called a script, is used to visually record a language with symbols. ... Motto: none Voivodship Lesser Poland Municipal government Rada Miejska Tarnów Mayor Mieczysław Bień Area 72,4 km² Population  - city  - urban  - density 121 300 - 1675/km² Founded City rights - 1330 Latitude Longitude 50°02 N 21°00 E Area code +48 14 Car plates KT Twin towns... Doctor of Philosophy (from Greek , meaning Teacher of Philosophy), typically abbreviated Ph. ... There is no institution called the University of Rome, but there are several universities in Rome: University of Rome La Sapienza University of Rome Tor Vergata University of Roma Tre This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ...

Although writing systems have been studied for centuries by linguists, Gelb is widely regarded as the first scientific practitioner of the study of scripts, and coined the term grammatology to refer to the study of writing systems. In A Study of Writing (1952), he suggested that scripts evolve in a single direction, from logographic scripts to syllabaries to alphabets. This historical typology has been criticized as overly simplistic, forcing the data to fit the model and ignoring exceptional cases. Yet, despite more recent refinements of the typology by Peter T. Daniels and others, Gelb's rigorous study of the properties of different kinds of writing system was pioneering and innovative. Gelb believed that the Maya hieroglyphs did not qualify as true writing capable of representing language, which has now been disproven following the decipherment of the Maya script. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. ... Grammatology is a term coined by the linguist Ignace Gelb in 1952 to refer to the scientific study of writing systems or scripts. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... A logogram, or logograph, is a single grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language). ... A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables, which make up words. ... A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... The word typology literally means the study of types. ... Peter T. Daniels is a scholar of writing systems. ... 74. ... Decipherment is the analysis of documents written in ancient languages, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost. ...

Gelb's work in Assyriology focused on publishing editions of Akkadian texts and a grammar and dictionary of Old Akkadian. He began the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary project in 1947 and remained as the editor of the project until his death. His other important works include works on Mesopotamian land tenure and sales, metrology, and other aspects of economic and social history. Akkadian (lišānum akkadītum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language family) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... For other uses, see Assyria (disambiguation). ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... This is an article about the ancient middle eastern region. ... Metrology (from Greek metron (measure), and -logy) is the science of measurement. ...

He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, and in 1975 he was elected as a member of the prestigious American Philosophical Society. Additionally, from 1965 to 1966 he was president of the American Oriental Society. The House of the Academy, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... The Accademia dei Lincei, (literally the Academy of the Lynxes, but also known as the Lincean Academy), is located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. ... The American Philosophical Society is a discussion group founded as the Junto in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. ...

References

• Leichty, Erle. 1998. Ignace J. Gelb (14 October 1907 - 22 December 1985). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 142(4): 668-670.
• Marquis Who Was Who in America, vol. 5, 1986-1989. (ISBN 0-8379-0217-7)