John E. Teeple

John Edgar Teeple (January 4, 1874 – March 23, 1931)[1] was a chemical engineer who served as President of The Chemists' Club from 1921-1922[1] and received the Perkin Medal in 1927 for his work on potash during World War I.[2]

John Edgar Teeple
President of the Chemists Club, 1921-1922
Born	(1874-01-04)January 4, 1874 Kempton, Illinois, U.S.
Died	May 28, 1931(1931-05-28) (aged 57) New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	United States
Alma mater	Valparaiso University, Cornell University
Spouse(s)	Lina Pease
Scientific career
Fields	Chemical engineer

He was also an American researcher and contributor to the field of Mesoamerican studies during the first half of the 20th century. He published several papers on the epigraphy and astronomy of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, and he is most noted for being the first to decipher the nature and meaning of the series of glyphs in the Maya writing system known as the "Supplementary Series", proving they referred to the position of a given day in the lunar cycle.[3]

The mathematically adept Teeple was encouraged into the field of Maya studies by his friend, the Mesoamerican scholar Sylvanus G. Morley, one of the foremost Mayanist researchers of his day.[4] By this time (the mid-1920s), although a few details relating to the functioning of the Maya calendar system and some astronomical notation had been worked out, the great majority of ancient Maya inscriptions and glyphs remained mysterious and undeciphered.