Jean-Baptiste Étienne Auguste Charcot, better known in France as Commandant Charcot, (15 July 1867 in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...

near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 16 September 1936 at sea (30 miles north-west of Reykjavik,

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

), was a French scientist,

medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

and polar scientist. His father was the

neurologist Neurology (from , "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 nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

Jean-Martin Charcot Jean-Martin Charcot (; 29 November 1825 – 16 August 1893) was a French neurology, neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He worked on groundbreaking work about hypnosis and hysteria, in particular with his hysteria patient Louise A ...

(1825–1893). As a sportsman, he was French rugby XV champion in 1896 and also won a double silver medal in sailing at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

Life

Jean-Baptiste Charcot was appointed leader of the

French Antarctic Expedition The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica. 1837–1840 In 1837, during an 1837–1840 expedition across the deep southern hemisphere, Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville sailed his ship ''Astrolabe'' alo ...

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 ...

from 1904 until 1907. The expedition reached

Adelaide Island Adelaide Island is a large, mainly ice-covered island, long and wide, lying at the north side of Marguerite Bay off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Ginger Islands lie off the southern end. Mount Bodys is the easternmost mounta ...

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 Anvers ...

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 Coa ...

. 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 ''Vostokkyste ...

and the

Amundsen Sea The Amundsen Sea is an arm of the Southern Ocean off Marie Byrd Land in western Antarctica. It lies between Cape Flying Fish (the northwestern tip of Thurston Island) to the east and Cape Dart on Siple Island to the west. Cape Flying Fish ...

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 th ...

, Mount Boland 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, we ...

, which was named after his father,

. an
here.
/ref> He named Hugo Island after

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

, 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 ...

. The

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

awarded its

Patron's Medal The Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal consists of two separate awards: the Founder's Medal 1830 and the Patron's Medal 1838. Together they form the most prestigious of the society's awards. They are given for "the encouragement and promoti ...

to Charcot in 1911, citing "his important expeditions to the Antarctic, during which he conducted investigations of high scientific value in geology, meteorology, magnetic conditions and biology." Later on, Jean-Baptiste Charcot explored

Rockall Rockall () is a high, uninhabitable granite islet in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is west of Soay, St Kilda, Scotland; northwest of Tory Island, Ireland; and south of Iceland. The nearest permanently inhabited place is North Uist, east in ...

in 1921 and Eastern

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

and

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

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

in 1936. Charcot participated in many sports. He won two silver medals in sailing at the Summer Olympics of 1900.

Dedications

A monument to Charcot was created in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

, 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 l ...

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 has had various places and things named after him: * '' Charcotiana'', a

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

genus *

Charcot Bay Charcot Bay () is a bay about wide between Cape Kater and Cape Kjellman along the Davis Coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. Location Charcot Bay lies at the east end of the Davis Coast on the northwest of the Antarctic Peninsula, at the base of ...

, Antarctica *

Charcot Fan Charcot Fan () is a deep-sea formation in the Southern Ocean. It lies off the coast of the West Antarctic Ellsworth Land. The Charcot Fan is an abyssal fan specifically located between the Bellingshausen Plain and the continental shelf of the Be ...

, an abyssal fan in the Southern Ocean * Charcot Land, a peninsula in Greenland * ''

Le Commandant Charcot ''Le Commandant Charcot'' is an icebreaker, icebreaking cruise ship operated by the France, French shipping company Compagnie du Ponant. Named after the French polar scientist Jean-Baptiste Charcot, the vessel was built at Vard Tulcea shipyard i ...

'', an icebreaking cruise ship

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 Scientists from Neuilly-sur-Seine 19th-century French explorers Explorers of Antarctica Explorers of the Arctic Graham Land Charcot family 20th-century French physicians Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Academic staff of the École pratique des hautes études 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 for 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 20th-century French explorers