Background
Braidwood was born July 29, 1907 in Detroit, Michigan, the first child of Walter John Braidwood (c1876) and Reay Nimmo (1881), and was educated at the University of Michigan, from where he graduated with an Master of Arts
anthropologist archaeologist university professor
Braidwood was born July 29, 1907 in Detroit, Michigan, the first child of Walter John Braidwood (c1876) and Reay Nimmo (1881), and was educated at the University of Michigan, from where he graduated with an Master of Arts
AB, University of Michigan, 1932; AM, University of Michigan, 1933; Doctor of Philosophy, University of Chicago, 1942; Doctor of Science (honorary), University Indiana, 1971; Docteur (honorary), University Sorbonne, Paris, 1975; Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Rome, 1984.
In architecture in 1933. Within a year he had joined the University of Chicago Oriental Institute"s expedition to the Amuq Plain with the archaeologist James Henry Breasted. Braidwood spent World World War II working for the Army Air Corps, in charge of a meteorological mapping program
There is speculation that the fictional character Indiana Jones was based on Braidwood, a fellow distinguished University of Chicago archaeologist known for his work in exotic locales.
Though Jones and Braidwood would have been contemporaries, there seems to be little evidence for this assertion. Robert John Braidwood died January 15, 2003 in Chicago.
Fellow National Academy of Sciences, American Academy Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, Society Antiquaries (London) (honorary). Member American Anthropological Association (executive board 1962-1964, distinguished lecturer 1971), International Union Pre-and-Protohistoric Sciences (former United States delegate permanent council), Conference Asian Archaeology-New Delhi (foundation member). Correspondent member Deutsche Archaologische Institut, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, Institut de France, Göteborgs Kungl.
Vetenskaps och Vitterhets Samhalle, Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Jysk Arkaeologist Selskab, Österreichsche Akademie der Wissenschaft.
Married Linda Schreiber, 1937. Children: Gretel, Douglas.