Giles Healey facts for kids

Giles Greville Healey (1901–1980) was an American explorer, photographer, and archaeologist. He was born in New York City in 1901. He studied in France and Germany before going to Yale University, where he graduated in 1924 with a degree in chemistry.

In 1928, Giles Healey went on a two-year trip to South America. He helped collect a plant called curare, which was used for medicine. During this trip, he also made many maps of the Orinoco River for the Royal Geographical Society.

Exploring Ancient Maya

Giles Healey moved to Mexico in 1944. There, he started a new career as an archaeologist, focusing on the ancient Maya. He found 28 different Maya ruins!

His most famous discovery happened in 1946. He took amazing photographs of colorful paintings, called murals, at a Maya site called Bonampak. These murals were painted around 800 A.D.

Before Giles Healey's discovery, many experts thought the ancient Maya were mostly peaceful. But the Bonampak murals showed scenes of battles and important ceremonies. This changed how people understood the Maya world.

Healey used both still cameras and movie cameras to record his discoveries. He even made a film called "Maya Through the Ages." This movie used footage he shot over 10 years while exploring in Guatemala and the Yucatán Peninsula.

A Man of Many Talents

Giles Healey had many different skills. He was an expert at navigating by the stars and even taught navigation to the Navy during the Korean War. He was also interested in optics (how light works) and astronomy (the study of stars and planets).

He worked on creating special metal mixtures, like beryllium, which were used for the Space Program. Giles Healey could speak seven languages, including Lacandon, a Mayan language still spoken by the Lacandon people in Mexico.

Giles Greville Healey passed away in 1980 in Bignor, England.