Grafton Elliot Smith

Sir Grafton Elliot Smith (1871–1937) was an Australian-born anatomist and Egyptologist. Trained in Sydney, he went to Cambridge and then to Cairo as professor of anatomy, where he examined the royal mummies and many ancient Egyptian remains. He later held chairs at Manchester and University College London and was a leading authority on the evolution of the brain. His study of mummification led him to the theory that the main inventions of civilization arose once, in Egypt, and spread around the world, argued in The Ancient Egyptians, The Migrations of Early Culture and The Evolution of the Dragon. He was knighted in 1934.