He became director of the School of Egyptology at Cairo, producing numerous very valuable works and pioneering the decipherment of Demotic, the simplified script of the later Egyptian periods.

[1] His 1848 work brought him to the attention of Alexander von Humboldt and Prussian King Frederick William IV.

[2] He was soon raised to the rank of bey (1873); from this post, he was unceremoniously dismissed in 1879 by the European controllers of the public revenues, determined to economize at all hazards; and French influence prevented his succeeding his friend Mariette at the Bulaq Museum in 1883.

[2] He afterwards resided principally in Germany until his death in 1894, but frequently visited Egypt,[2] took part in two more official missions to Persia in 1883 (with Prince Frederick Charles[citation needed]) and 1885.

[citation needed] Brugsch has been described in the context of the Curse of the pharaohs, as was his brother, through his delusional belief he held the post of Lepsius at the University of Berlin while the latter was still alive and though he had never been offered the position.

[4] He was the brother of Egyptologist Émile Brugsch who was responsible for the poorly documented evacuation of the royal mummies at Deir el-Bahari.