Cham·pol·lion (shäN-pô-lyôN?), Jean François 1790-1832. French Egyptologist. Working from the Rosetta stone, in 1822 he became the first person to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.