Christopher Johnston (December 8, 1856 – June 26, 1914) was an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

, a scholar of ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

Personal life

He was born on December 8, 1856, in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, the son of the physician Christopher Johnston (1822-1891), a professor of surgery at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the Flagship un ...

and the discoverer of

Johnston's organ Johnston's organ is a collection of sensory cells found in the pedicel (the second segment) of the antennae in the class Insecta. Johnston's organ detects motion in the flagellum (third and typically final antennal segment). It consists of scol ...

, and Sarah Lucretia Clay (1835-1879). Johnston married Madeline T. Tilghman on June 2, 1897, and had a son, Benamin Johnston, and a daughter, Eliza Gates Johnston, who died young. Johnston died at his home in Baltimore on June 26, 1914.

Studies and career

Johnston studied at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...

, where he earned three degrees: a B. Litt. in 1876, a B.A. 1878, and an M.A. in 1879. He graduated from the medical department of the

in 1880, practiced medicine until 1888 in Baltimore (while concurrently studying various languages), then entered

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...

to study Assyriology and Semitics, taking the degree of Ph.D. in 1894. Johnston continued on to become a Professor of Oriental History and Archaeology at Hopkins. He published ''Epistolary Literature of the Assyrians and Babylonians'' (1896) and edited ''Ancient Empires of the East'' (1906). He was also responsible for writing the ''

New International Encyclopedia ''The New International Encyclopedia'' was an American encyclopedia first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead and Company. It descended from the ''International Cyclopaedia'' (1884) and was updated in 1906, 1914 and 1926. History ''The New Intern ...

'' chapter concerning

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

Works

* (1894 Ph.D. dissertation) * (notes by

Carl Heinrich Cornill Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Christopher 1856 births 1914 deaths Physicians from Baltimore American historians Writers from Baltimore American Assyriologists University of Virginia alumni University of Maryland, Baltimore alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty