Grafton Elliot Smith facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Grafton Elliot Smith
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Grafton Elliot Smith
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| Born | 15 August 1871 |
| Died | 1 January 1937 (aged 65) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney, University of Cambridge |
| Parent(s) | Stephen Sheldrick Smith Mary Jane Smith, née Evans |
| Awards | Royal Medal (1912) Fellow of the Royal Society |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Anatomy Archaeology |
Sir Grafton Elliot Smith (born August 15, 1871 – died January 1, 1937) was an Australian-born British scientist. He was an expert in anatomy, which is the study of the body's structure. He also studied Egyptology, which is the study of ancient Egypt.
Smith was known for his idea called hyperdiffusionism. This idea suggests that important cultural inventions and ideas, like building pyramids or using certain tools, happened only once in one place. Then, these ideas spread out to other parts of the world. He believed that many of these ideas came from ancient Egypt, and sometimes from Asia.
He was also a leading expert on the brain. He was one of the first scientists to use x-rays to study ancient Egyptian mummies without damaging them. He was also involved in a debate about the "Piltdown Man", which was a fossil that turned out to be a fake.
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Becoming a Scientist
Grafton Elliot Smith was born in Grafton, New South Wales, Australia. His father was a headmaster, and Smith went to schools where his father taught. When his family moved to Sydney, he attended Sydney Boys High School.
He became very interested in biology after attending evening classes. He once heard a professor say that no one fully understood the human brain. Smith decided then that he wanted to be the one to understand it.
In 1888, he began studying medicine at the University of Sydney. He earned his medical degree in 1895, writing about the brains of monotremes (like platypuses). This sparked his deep interest in the human brain. He later continued his studies at St John's College, Cambridge, in England.
Working with Mummies and Brains
In 1900, Smith got a job at the Cairo School of Medicine in Egypt. He became an advisor for archaeological projects, especially when the Aswan Dam was being built. This dam threatened to flood many ancient sites.
Smith studied the brains of Egyptian mummies. He was a pioneer in using x-rays to look inside mummies without harming them. He also looked for signs of diseases or injuries in ancient bones. For example, he noticed that many Egyptian skulls were thin on top. He thought this might be because people wore heavy wigs or headgear.
From 1909 to 1919, he was a professor of anatomy at the University of Manchester. Then, from 1919 to 1937, he held the same position at University College London. He was also the president of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland for several years. During World War I, he studied how war injuries affected the brain.
Smith was a top expert on how the brain evolved. Many of his ideas about how primate brains developed are still important today. He suggested that brains developed in stages:
- First, animals like jumping shrews relied mostly on smell.
- Then, animals like tree-shrews developed better vision and a larger brain area for sight.
- Next came animals like tarsiers, with sharp vision and good hand skills.
- After that, monkeys developed.
- Finally, human-like creatures (anthropoids) began using their hands to make and use tools.
Awards and Recognition
Grafton Elliot Smith received many honors for his work.
- In 1909, he was honored by the Khedive of Egypt.
- He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1907, which is a very important scientific group.
- He also received the French Legion of Honour.
- In 1934, he was knighted, which means he received the title "Sir."
- He won the Royal Medal from the Royal Society in 1912.
- In 1930, he received the Honorary Gold Medal from the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
- In 1936, he was awarded the Huxley Memorial Medal.
Ideas About Human History
Smith, along with another British scientist named Arthur Keith, believed that humans first developed in Europe. They thought that a group called the "Mediterranean race" were the first modern humans. Smith believed this group lived across Europe, the Middle East, and Egypt. He especially connected this group to the ancient Egyptian civilization.
Hyperdiffusionism Explained
The idea of hyperdiffusionism suggests that many major cultural inventions came from one single place. Grafton Elliot Smith strongly believed that ancient Egypt was the source of almost all important cultural ideas and inventions. He thought that these ideas then spread all over the world.
For example, Smith believed that all large stone monuments, like those in Europe, India, Japan, or Central America, originally came from ancient Egypt. He thought that small groups of people traveled by sea, settled in new places, and copied Egyptian monuments like the pyramids. He even thought that a mummy found on a Torres Strait island showed Egyptian influence.
Smith also believed that farming started in Egypt and then spread to other places like Mesopotamia. He thought that Egypt's fertile land and good location helped people develop many skills and inventions.
He suggested that early Egyptians invented many things, including:
- Weaving cloth
- Working with metals like gold and copper
- Creating a calendar
- Building ships that could sail on the sea
- The art of shaving
- Wigs
- Hats
- Pillows
Smith thought that the invention of metalworking was the most important. He believed that the search for metals like copper led people to travel to new lands. These travelers then introduced farming, burial customs, and their religion to the places they visited.
Smith did not think that the spread of culture was always linked to a specific race of people. Instead, he saw it as a spread of ideas.
Why Were These Ideas Popular?
During the time of Colonialism, when European countries were expanding their empires, the idea of hyperdiffusionism was popular. It seemed to explain how European explorers and engineers were spreading civilization around the world, much like Smith believed ancient Egyptians had done.
However, today, most archaeologists and historians have different views. They believe that many ancient cultures developed their own unique inventions and ideas independently. For example, the large stone tombs in Britain and Ireland are now known to be much older than the Egyptian pyramids. Also, the pyramids in Central America are more recent and are seen as local inventions, not copies of Egyptian ones.
Smith once interpreted a carving in an ancient Maya monument as an elephant with a rider, even though elephants were not native to the Americas. He used this to support his idea that Asian influences reached the New World. However, other experts believed it was a stylized tapir, an animal found in the Americas.
Personal Life
Grafton Elliot Smith's father moved to Australia from London. He became a teacher and headmaster. Grafton's older brother later became the Director of Education in New South Wales.
In 1902, Smith married Kathleen Macreadie before moving to Cairo. He lived in different parts of London during his career. He became good friends with another scientist, Dr. W. H. R. Rivers.
Sadly, Smith's youngest son, Stephen, died in an accident in 1936. Grafton Elliot Smith himself passed away on January 1, 1937, in Broadstairs, Kent.
Images for kids
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Cultural diffusion map from Egypt by Grafton Elliot Smith (1929).
