Grafton Elliot Smith

Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, FRS FRCP (15 August 1871 – 1 January 1937) was an Australian anatomist and a famous proponent of the hyperdiffusionist view of prehistory. Smith was born in Grafton, New South Wales. He was awarded a degree in medicine at the University of Sydney (Doctor of Medicine in 1895, with a dissertation on the fore-brain of the monotremes) and developed an interest in the anatomy of the human brain. He held a travelling scholarsh... more

Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, FRS FRCP (15 August 1871 – 1 January 1937) was an Australian anatomist and a famous proponent of the hyperdiffusionist view of prehistory. Smith was born in Grafton, New South Wales. He was awarded a degree in medicine at the University of Sydney (Doctor of Medicine in 1895, with a dissertation on the fore-brain of the monotremes) and developed an interest in the anatomy of the human brain. He held a travelling scholarship at Cambridge in 1896, then he catalogued the human brain-collection of the British Museum. From 1900-1909 he was the first chairholder of anatomy at the Cairo School of Medicine and investigated the brains of Egyptian mummies. He was the first scholar to x-ray a mummy. In 1907 he became archaeological advisor to the archaeological survey of Nubia. From 1909-1919 he was Professor for anatomy in Manchester, 1919-1937 he held the chair of Anatomy at the University College London. During World War I he attended military hospitals for shell... less