In 1956, the Ukrainian historian, ethnographer and linguist Yury Knorozov defended his Ph.D. thesis on the "Landau alphabet" compiled in the 16th century by the Spanish bishop Diego de Landa. In his report, which only lasted 3.5 minutes, the scientist showed how he deciphered the Maya writing, and the Commission decided to appoint him to a degree not the candidate, and once the doctor of sciences.
Earlier decoding was considered almost impossible: there were too few written Maya artifacts, and these were not individual words or letters, but only warehouses. In 1562, Bishop Diego de Landa, Bishop of Yucatan, burned a huge number of books and other monuments of this culture, so Knorozov had to do a tremendous job.
The scientist has made the catalog of hieroglyphs of Maya and by 1952 could establish a phonetic reading of some of them. The complete translation of the hieroglyphic manuscripts of Maya was published in 1975, and in 1977 Knorozov received for him the State Prize of the USSR.
Despite the fact that the opening of the Ukrainian became a world sensation, and in Latin America he turned into a cult object altogether, Mayor Yuri Knorozov could visit Maya's homeland only in 1990 when he was invited to Guatemala - before that he was not allowed to travel.
In 1995, Knorozov was awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle, which is awarded to the Mexican government by foreign citizens for exceptional services to Mexico. Later, he once again visited Mexico, as well as in the US, where he tested the hypothesis of the origin of Mesoamericans.
In 1999, the scientist died of a stroke. But in Mexico, he is remembered and honored so far. The first monument in his honor was established in 2012 in Cancun, the second - in March 2018 in Merida.
The monument of Pachelli's authorship is located next to the Great Mayan World Museum. On the three-meter monument, Yuri Knorozov is depicted with his beloved cat Asya in his arms.
Reference: Yuri Knorozov was born in 1922 in the village of Yuzhny (now the city of Pivdenne) near Kharkov, then the capital of the Ukrainian SSR.
Source: Ukrainian People.