Dr. Frederick Walden was an Earth-renowned linguist. He was arrogant, aloof, as well as preferred to work alone. He was not interested in sharing his findings with Lex Luthor until Lex threatened him. He published a book entitled Deciphering the Mysteries of Hieroglyphics, which Clark Kent used to study the etchings in the Kawatche Caves. Lex Luthor discovered Clark's copy of the book and hired Dr. Walden to translate the strange markings.