What is Linear B, and how did an amateur architect crack a code that baffled experts for decades?

The answer

Linear B, found on clay tablets at Knossos and Pylos, was deciphered in 1952 by Michael Ventris, an English architect with no formal linguistics training. He proved the script recorded an early form of Greek, dating to around 1450 BCE - pushing the Greek language back centuries earlier than scholars believed. Linear B uses roughly 87 syllabic signs and logograms. Its predecessor, Linear A, used by the Minoans from approximately 1800 BCE, remains undeciphered to this day. Ventris tragically died in a car accident in 1956 at age 34, just four years after his groundbreaking achievement.