Alexander Henry Rhind

Who was Alexander Henry Rhind?

Alexander Henry Rhind was a Scottish lawyer and Egyptologist.

Born in Wick on 26 July 1833 in the Highlands, Rhind studied at the University of Edinburgh. Suffering from pulmonary disease, he travelled to Egypt where he became fascinated by the ancient culture and antiquities of that country.

He collected material for his book entitled "Thebes, its Tombs and their Tenants", which was published in 1862. A prolific writer with a methodical research style, all through his years in Egypt he continued to battle ill health.

Among the items that he collected was the Rhind Papyrus, also known as the Ahmes Papyrus after its Egyptian scribe. Rhind acquired it in 1858 and transferred it to the British Museum in 1863, and the similar Egyptian Mathematical Leather Roll. Both are mathematical treatises and both were purchased in the Luxor market, and may have previously been stolen from the Ramesseum. When chemically softened and decoded years afterward, they show the Egyptians had computed the value of π as 3.1605, a margin of error of less than one percent.