William Speirs Bruce : forgotten polar hero

Author / Creator

Williams, Isobel, author

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Summary

"Bruce was both a Scottish Nationalist and Naturalist who led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902-1904) as well as participating in or leading, many other polar expeditions from 1892 t...

"Bruce was both a Scottish Nationalist and Naturalist who led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902-1904) as well as participating in or leading, many other polar expeditions from 1892 through to 1919, particularly to Spitsbergen. But he is now largely forgotten compared with the greats, Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen. For this reason this biography is subtitled 'Forgotten Polar Hero'. The expert authors return to primary sources to provide a new and controversial view of the relationship between Bruce and the then President of the Royal Geographical Society, Sir Clements Markham, and also draw new conclusions about Bruce's personality, in particular suggesting that he was probably on the autism spectrum. Bruce was ahead of his time in dreaming of cooperating meteorological stations in the South. He can be considered the Father of Meteorology in the South Atlantic. He had a lasting impact, publishing his work, under great difficulties, in six scientific volumes. His work in the Arctic was notable for the extensive, new, surveys he undertook. Despite being a strong nationalist - or perhaps because he was - his outlook was internationalist."--

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