Jon J HIRST

• Retired: ex- Research Physical-chemist, then Computer Analyst and Programmer, born 1941, in Lancashire, England. I've succeeded in reaching 69 years of age
  


• I have been a amateur Egyptologist since the 1960's. I am a member of the British "Egypt Exploration Society" and I am a self-taught reader of hieroglyphics and hieratic.
  


• I have never visited Egypt (and now, for health reasons, never shall), so I rely on sites such as Thierry's to help fulfil my desire to be involved in all things Egyptological. I have also been fortunate in having had many friends who have provided me with photos from their visits to Egypt, to whom I will be forever grateful, many of whom have now gone to join Osiris.
  


• I have studied and translated many Ancient Egyptian sources during the past 40+ years.
  


• I have made contributions to the site of Jenny Carrington, mainly the "Story of Sinuhe".
  


• I now have the responsibility for the English pages of this site, for which I am very grateful to Thierry for this opportunity to leave something of my hobby to others.
  




• Because of my background in computing, I create computerised 3D virtual tours of tombs (for my own pleasure). The results of two of these (as screen captures) can be seen on my original page for this site, of Horemheb (KV57), and one of my translated pages, that of Ramesses I (KV16). Another example is a screen capture from my Tomb of Nefertari (QV66), seen above.


• I have now made available some of these virtual reality tours on this site, see the 3D Virtual Reality Tours page. Over time there will be more, but only if I can obtain full (or nearly full) photographic coverage of additional tombs, so many people never photograph the damaged sections of the walls or the ceilings; all of which are important. I am currently working on a 3D tour of the full Mereruka mastaba.
  With the closure of certain tombs, and the "no photography" rule, the acquisition of enough images is becoming more difficult. In the future, these 3D tours may be the only way available to visit certain tombs.