Jean-Baptiste-Étienne-Auguste Charcot (15 July 1867 – 16 September 1936), born in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

, was a French scientist,

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and polar scientist. His father was the

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893).

Life

Jean-Baptiste Charcot was appointed leader of the

French Antarctic Expedition The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica. First expedition In 1772, Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec and the naturalist Jean Guillaume Bruguière sailed to the Antarctic region in search of the fabl ...

with the ship ''Français'' exploring the west coast of

Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee an ...

from 1904 until 1907. The expedition reached Adelaide Island in 1905 and took pictures of the

Palmer Archipelago Palmer Archipelago, also known as Antarctic Archipelago, Archipiélago Palmer, Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln, is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends from Tower Island in the north to Anver ...

and

Loubet Coast Loubet Coast is the portion of the west coast of Graham Land in Antarctic Peninsula, extending 158 km between Cape Bellue to the northeast and Bourgeois Fjord to the southwest. South of Loubet Coast is Fallières Coast, north is Graham Coast. ...

. From 1908 until 1910, another expedition followed with the ship '' Pourquoi Pas ?'', exploring the

Bellingshausen Sea The Bellingshausen Sea is an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula between 57°18'W and 102°20'W, west of Alexander Island, east of Cape Flying Fish on Thurston Island, and south of Peter I Island (there the southern ''Vostokkys ...

and the Amundsen Sea and discovering

Loubet Land Loubet Coast is the portion of the west coast of Graham Land in Antarctic Peninsula, extending 158 km between Cape Bellue to the northeast and Bourgeois Fjord to the southwest. South of Loubet Coast is Fallières Coast, north is Graham Coast ...

Marguerite Bay Marguerite Bay or Margaret Bay is an extensive bay on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, which is bounded on the north by Adelaide Island and on the south by Wordie Ice Shelf, George VI Sound and Alexander Island. The mainland coast on t ...

Mount Boland Mount Boland is a mountain over 1,065 m on the Kyiv Peninsula in Graham Land, Antarctica. It is six nautical miles (11 km) east of Lumiere Peak on the east–west ridge between Bussey and Trooz Glaciers. It was discovered by the French An ...

and

Charcot Island Charcot Island or Charcot Land is an island administered under the Antarctic Treaty System, long and wide, which is ice covered except for prominent mountains overlooking the north coast. Charcot Island lies within the Bellingshausen Sea, wes ...

, which was named after his father, Jean-Martin Charcot. an
here.
/ref> He named

Hugo Island Hugo Island (or Víctor Hugo) is an isolated ice-covered island long, with several rocky islets and pinnacles off its east side, located off the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, about southwest of Cape Monaco, Anvers Island. It was probabl ...

after

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

, the grandfather of his wife,

Jeanne Hugo Léopoldine Clémence Adèle Lucie Jeanne Hugo (29 September 1869 – 30 November 1941) was a Belgian-born French heiress and socialite during La Belle Époque. She was a granddaughter of French novelist, poet, and politician Victor Hugo. As an a ...

. Later on, Jean-Baptiste Charcot explored

Rockall Rockall () is an uninhabitable granite islet situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. The United Kingdom claims that Rockall lies within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and is part of its territory, but this claim is not recognised by Ireland. ...

in 1921 and Eastern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

and

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

from 1925 until 1936. He died when ''Pourquoi-Pas ?'' was wrecked in a storm off the coast of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

in 1936. A monument to Charcot was created in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

, Iceland by sculptor

Einar Jónsson Einar Jónsson (11 May 1874 – 18 October 1954) was an Icelandic sculptor, born in ''Galtafell'', a farm in southern Iceland. Biography At a young age Einar proved himself to be an unusual child with an artistic bent. At that time there was li ...

in 1936 and another by

Ríkarður Jónsson Ríkarður Jónsson (20 September 1888 – 17 January 1977) was an Icelandic sculptor. Early training Ríkarður was born in the Icelandic east coast village of Djúpivogur. His mother was Ólöf Finnsdóttir and his father was Jón Þóra ...

in 1952. Charcot participated in many sports. He won two silver medals in sailing at the Summer Olympics of 1900.

References

* ''Le "Pourquoi pas?" dans l'Antarctique 1908–1910'', Arthaud, Paris, 1996,

External links

*
Sur les traces du "Pourquoi-Pas?"

Icelandic website in memory of Jean-Babtiste Charcot"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charcot, Jean-Baptiste 1867 births 1936 deaths Captains who went down with the ship People from Neuilly-sur-Seine French explorers Explorers of Antarctica Explorers of the Arctic Graham Land Charcot family 20th-century French physicians Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur École pratique des hautes études faculty Members of the French Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Cullum Geographical Medal Burials at Montmartre Cemetery Antarctic Peninsula French male sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1900 Summer Olympics – 0 to .5 ton Olympic sailors of France Medalists at the 1900 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for France Olympic medalists in sailing Accidental deaths in Iceland Sportspeople from Hauts-de-Seine Sailors at the 1900 Summer Olympics – Open class

Life

See also

References

External links