Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt (1913–2011)

Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt was born in Paris and developed a passionate interest in ancient Egypt as a child, after reading about the excavation of the tomb of King Tutankhamun. She attended the Lycée Molière and Collège de France, and enrolled at the École pratique des hautes études and the École du Louvre to take degrees in Egyptian studies. In 1936, she joined the Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the Musée du Louvre as a project manager. In 1942, she married André Noblecourt, an engineer. During World War II, she joined the French Resistance, and helped hide the Louvre's Egyptian treasures from the Nazis. She was a professor of Egyptian archeology at the École du Louvre from 1937 to 1982 and chief curator of the Louvre's Egyptian department from 1974 to 1981. She led the people of France to launch an appeal to the world, together with the Minister of Egyptian Cultural Heritage, for funding to save the temples of Abu Simbel and other antiquities from being destroyed by flooding during construction of the Aswan Dam in 1960. She wrote 15 books on ancient Egyptian art and history. She received many of the most prestigious decorations from the French Republic, including the Légion d'honneur in 2005.