Hiram Bingham III
Hiram Bingham III ( born November 19, 1875 in Honolulu, † June 6, 1956 in Washington, DC) was an American archaeologist, explorer and politician from Hawaii.
Born on Oahu Bingham was educated at Yale, Berkeley and Harvard. He was a historian at Harvard University and at Princeton. On November 20, 1900, he married Alfreda Mitchell, the granddaughter of Charles Lewis Tiffany and heir to the Tiffany fortune. With her he had seven sons.
Between 1906 and 1924 he undertook six expeditions to South America. He came on 24 July 1911, his team on the ruins of Machu Picchu. In the following years until 1913, they laid much of the overgrown by the jungle buildings free. Later, Bingham documented the work in a book. Contrary to popular opinion Machu Picchu was not " discovered" by Bingham. Already in 1867 the German businessman August Berns had reached the forest Roden on the system and had received from the Peruvian state the area as a claim. 1874 then the entire zone was measured cartographically by Berns. Bingham - who recruited a large number of sponsors - however due to that Machu Picchu was exposed and extensive archaeological studies have been made.
In 1924 he was governor for the Republican Party of Connecticut, after he had two years acting as Vice- Governor of the State, already put this post but after a few days down to feed in the U.S. Senate. His arrogant manner, his craving for recognition and ultimately an interest scandal it was owed, that he lost the election of 1932 against Augustine Lonergan.
In the same year his first wife left him. 1937 Bingham married his second wife Suzanne Carroll Hill. In 1948 Bingham to Machu Picchu one last time to inaugurate a road that tourists should bring to the ancient Incan city. After Hiram Bingham, a lunar crater on the moon back is named. Was also named after him a private luxury train of Tour Operators Orient Express, which runs daily between Cusco and Machu Picchu.
Bingham died June 6, 1956 in Washington, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Life and work of Bingham served as inspiration for the movie character of Indiana Jones.