Edme-François Jomard

This seminal publication on Egyptology was a collaboration effort of some 150 prominent French scientist and scholars and 2,000 technicians and artists, with Jomard as chief editor.

But he was also concerned with the history of cartography, searching for early maps and arranging for facsimiles to be prepared that could be published, thus making them available for scholarly study.

The goal was to document the progress of geographical concepts from erroneous mediaeval ideas to modern scientific knowledge based on exploration and accurate observation.

With the Irish exile and former American consul David Baillie Warden, Jonard was behind the society's patronage of studies of indigenous America, especially Palenque and the Yucatán Peninsula.

[5] Through his membership of the society, he was also involved in awarding the French explorer, René Caillié, the 10,000 Franc prize for being the first European to return from Timbuktu.