Ippolito Desideri

Ippolito Desideri, SJ (21 December 1684 Pistoia, Grand Duchy of Tuscany – 14 April 1733 Rome, Papal States) was an Italian Jesuit missionary and traveller and the most famous of the early European missionaries who founded Catholic Church in Tibet. He was also the first documented Tibetologist and the first European to have successfully studied both Classical and Standard Tibetan. Provided by Wikipedia