Background
Eugene was born on the 12th of August, 1801, in Paris, France, the son of Jean Louis Burnouf.
Eugene was born on the 12th of August, 1801, in Paris, France, the son of Jean Louis Burnouf.
Burnouf started his career as a lawyer, but he soon left this profession, attracted by the newly opened field of Oriental studies. He followed the courses of Antoine ChézyChezy and Abel RémusatRemusat and cultivated the friendship of Christian Lassen. In 1829 Burnouf became a professor of grammar at the ÉcoleEcole Normale; in 1832 he succeeded Antoine ChézyChezy in the chair of Sanskrit at the CollègeCollege de France and J. F. Champollion at the AcadémieAcademie des Inscriptions, of which, at the end of his life, he was elected perpetual secretary. Burnouf may be said to have founded Indology and Iranology in France and to have given, with some help from Franz Bopp, the first serious interpretation of the Avesta. He died in Paris on May 28, 1852.
By his labours a knowledge of the Zend language was first brought into the scientific world of Europe. Burnouf made significant contributions to the deciphering of Old Persian cuneiform.
