William Barr (born 1940) is a Scottish historian with a specific interest in the history of exploration of the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

, and to a lesser degree, the

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

. He holds degrees in

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

from the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada. From 1968 until 1999 he was a member of the faculty of the Department of Geography, University of Saskatchewan,

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

, Canada and is now a professor emeritus there. Since 1999 he is a Research Fellow in residence at the Arctic Institute of North America,

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

. For the past 30 years the history of the exploration of the Arctic has been the focus of his research. He has published 16 books, including translations from French, German, and Russian. Saving White Death
/ref> In 2006, William Barr received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the

recorded history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world h ...

of the Canadian North from the Canadian Historical Association. Most of the titles of his works show that William Barr is an admirer of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n Arctic explorers. His contribution has been crucial to make known to the wider public the exploits of Polar explorations by Russia and the Soviet Union.

Works

* '' Baron Eduard von Toll's Last Expedition: The Russian Polar Expedition, 1900–1903'' * ''The First Soviet Convoy to the Mouth of the Lena''. * ''The Drift of Lenin's Convoy in the Laptev Sea, 1937–1938''
(full text)
* ''The First Tourist Cruise in the Soviet Arctic''. * ''The Last Journey of Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen'', 1919. * '' Otto Sverdrup to the rescue of the Russian Imperial Navy''. * ''Imperial Russia's Pioneers in Arctic Aviation.'' * ''First convoy to the Kolyma: The North-East Polar Expedition, 1932–1933.'' * '' Severnaya Zemlya: the last major discovery.'' * ''The voyage of Sibiryakov, 1932''. * '' Rusanov, Gerkules and the Northern Sea Route.'' * '' Alexander Vasyl'yevich Kolchak: Arctic scientist and explorer.'' * ''Right place: wrong skeleton! The Musk-Ox.'' * ''The polar voyages of Captain Eduard Dallmann, whaler, trader, explorer 1830–96.'' (with Reinhard Krause and Peter-Michael Pawlik). * '' Aleksandr Stepanovich Kuchin: The Russian who went South with Amundsen.'' * ''Franklin in Siberia? - Lieutenant Bedford Pim's Proposal to Search the Arctic Coast of Siberia'', 1851–52.

References

External links

University of Calgary
1940 births Living people 20th-century Scottish historians Polar exploration by Russia and the Soviet Union Academic staff of the University of Saskatchewan 21st-century Scottish historians Scottish expatriates in Canada {{UK-historian-stub