Jean-Baptiste Charcot

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Jean-Baptiste Charcot

Jean-Baptiste Étienne Auguste Charcot (born July 15, 1867 in Neuilly-sur-Seine , † September 16, 1936 off the coast of Iceland ) was a French scientist, doctor and polar explorer. He went on two voyages of discovery to Antarctica .

Life

Early years

Following the will of his father, Jean-Martin Charcot , who was a famous neurologist , Jean-Baptiste Charcot became a doctor. After his parents' death in 1893 and 1895, he inherited a considerable fortune that allowed him to pursue his interests in the sea and shipping. Although he finished his training in 1895, he gave up medicine for good three years later. In 1896 he married Jeanne Hugo (1869–1941), a granddaughter of the writer Victor Hugo , who had been divorced from Léon Daudet in 1895 . After an argument in the theater there was a duel between Daudet and Charcot, in which the former was slightly injured. About his wife Charcot was related to the politician and two-time Minister of the Navy Édouard Lockroy (1840-1913). His sister Jeanne (1865–?) Was the third wife of Alfred Edwards (1856–1914), the owner of the influential Le Matin newspaper , and his half-sister Marie Durvis (1854–1936) was the wife of the French Prime Minister from 1899 to 1902, Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau . In 1898 he accompanied the US multimillionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843-1899) on his yacht Catania on a trip along the African Mediterranean coast and on the Nile . Vanderbilt paid him a doctor's fee of £ 20 a day for this  .

First Antarctic expedition 1903–1905

The Français 1903 in the port of Le Havre
Booth Island: Port Charcot with Charcots Steinmann

With his yachts he mostly Pourquoi Pas? ( German  Why not? ), Charcot made trips to England, Ireland, the Shetland Islands and the Faroe Islands . In 1902 he sailed with the Rose Navy to Iceland and Jan Mayen , where he discovered his love for the Arctic . With his new ship, the three-masted schooner Français , he wanted to go to Novaya Zemlya in 1903 . However, the absence of Otto Nordenskjöld's Swedish Antarctic Expedition made him change his plans and undertake a rescue expedition to Antarctica . He tried to cover the additional financial needs by collecting donations from the readers of Le Matin . Finally, the French state also contributed to the financing. Charcot was able to win Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery , who led the Belgica expedition from 1897 to 1899 and was the first to spend the winter in Antarctica, as an expert .

The Français left Le Havre on August 15, 1903 and reached Pernambuco on October 19. Disagreements about the expedition plan resulted in Gerlache and two scientists leaving the ship and returning to Europe. In Buenos Aires , Charcot learned in the last week of November that Nordenskjöld had already been rescued by the Argentine corvette Uruguay . Valuable tips from Nordenskjöld, his captain Carl Anton Larsen and the head of the Scottish Antarctic Expedition , William Speirs Bruce , helped Charcot to draw up a new expedition plan based on the discoveries made by previous expeditions in the Antarctic Peninsula area . He wanted to first explore the islands on the Gerlache Strait and find a place to spend the winter as far south as possible. In the second season, attempts should be made to advance further south or, if that is not possible, to cross the Antarctic Peninsula eastwards. The Argentine government gave Charcot generous support. He was promised to supply his ship in Ushuaia with free coal and to lend him the sled dogs that Nordenskjöld had given to his rescuers on the Uruguay . In addition, the damaged propeller was repaired. Argentina also undertook to send a ship next summer to look for Charcot or news of him.

On December 23, the Français left Buenos Aires and reached Ushuaia on January 10, 1904. Past Smith Island , the expedition came to the entrance of the Gerlache Strait, where they stayed west and mapped the sea-side coasts of the islands of Brabant and Anvers . After a water pipe burst, the Français was steered to Flanders Bay on February 7, where the necessary repairs were carried out within eleven days. In search of a place to post messages - Charcot eventually chose Casabianca Island  - the expedition discovered Port Lockroy , a natural harbor on the west side of Wiencke Island . Advancing further south, the Français got into heavy ice. The expedition found a sheltered harbor (Port Charcot) for wintering on Booth Island .

On November 24th, Charcot and four men began an eleven-day excursion by dinghy. Via Petermann Island they came to the coast of Grahamland and climbed a mountain at Cape Tuxen . Only at the end of December 1904 was the Français released again. When measuring Anvers Island, Charcot named its highest mountain after his ship Mount Français. Driven by north-easterly storms, the expedition continued on its way to the south-west, and on January 11, 1905, Alexander I Island, about 100 km away, came into view. At 67 ° 25 'S, Charcot encountered solid pack ice and could not penetrate further south. In a northeasterly direction, the ship continued to the coast of Adelaide Island , where it ran onto a rock. Only with necessity and constant pumping out of the penetrating water, the Français Port Lockroy reached on January 29, where the crew was busy ten days with repair work. On March 5, the ship anchored in the port of Puerto Madryn and on March 22, came to Buenos Aires, where it was placed directly in dry dock . Charcot sold the Français to Argentina and returned to France at the Algérie , where he received a triumphant reception. The scientific yield of the expedition was considerable. About 1,000 km of coastline had been mapped, and the scientific results eventually filled eighteen volumes.

Jeanne Charcot had already filed for divorce in February 1905 because Charcot had left her. He married again on January 24, 1907. His second wife Marguerite Cléry (1874–1960) was a painter . The couple had two daughters.

Second Antarctic Expedition 1908–1910

Marguerite Charcot 1908 with child on the bridge of the Pourquoi Pas?
Route of the Pourquoi Pas? 1908-1910
The Pourquoi Pas? on August 15, 1908
Port Circumcision where the Pourquoi Pas? Wintered in 1909

Immediately after returning from Antarctica, Charcot began planning a second expedition. He wanted to continue his research where he had to stop. In particular, he was concerned with the question of whether Antarctica is a continent or just a group of ice-covered islands. Financing was less of a problem this time; the French government alone granted him 600,000 francs . From François Gautier in Saint-Malo , who had already built the Français , he ordered a new ship, which he renamed Pourquoi Pas? baptized. The three-mast barque with a 450 HP machine was launched on May 18, 1908.

The expedition left Le Havre on August 15th. On board was Marguerite Charcot, who accompanied her husband to Punta Arenas , who did the Pourquoi Pas? left on December 16. Six days later the ship passed Smith Island and entered the port of Deception Island , where several Norwegian whalers were anchored. After taking over 30 tons of coal, the journey continued on December 25th. Four days later the Pourquoi reached Pas? already Port Charcot, where the Français had wintered in 1904. On January 1, 1909, the day of Christ's circumcision , Charcot discovered a sheltered harbor on Petermann Island, which he called Port Circumcision . A trip by motorboat to Cape Tuxen, which lasted a few hours, was almost fatal to Charcot when the boat was trapped in the ice. Only after three days was it possible to take the starving and freezing men back on board. Immediately afterwards the ship ran into a reef and was only released after hours at high tide. Although the Pourquoi Pas? If it had been damaged, it was stable enough to continue the journey.

In mid-January, the expedition mapped Adelaide Island, which turned out to be much larger than previously thought. Charcot named the newly discovered large bay between Adelaide Island in the north, Alexander I Island in the south and the Fallières coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in the east, after his wife Marguerite Bay . Crossing the bay to the south, the ship approached Alexander I Island within two miles, but then had to turn back. The expedition went to Port Circumcision for the winter. The narrow port entrance was secured by steel cables to keep icebergs from the Pourquoi Pas? could have been dangerous to keep from drifting into the bay. On the island, the scientists set up four huts for the scientific instruments and laid power cables for their electrical lighting. As long as the weather permitted, boat trips to the neighboring islands were taken.

In winter, individual cases of vitamin deficiency diseases occurred among the expedition participants. Charcot and René-Émile Godfroy (1885–1981) in particular suffered from swollen legs, anxiety and later edema from the end of June . According to HR Guly , this was the "wet" form of beriberi . The first symptoms of scurvy appeared in September . Charcot treated them by eating fresh seal or penguin meat and drinking lemon juice.

In the southern spring the excursions were resumed. Since Charcot was still ill, the most notable was directed by the geologist Ernest Gourdon (1875–1955). From September 18 to October 2, the five men were on the road in Grahamland to find evidence of its supposed island character. Since it failed to climb one of the coastal glaciers, the question remained unanswered. During the next few weeks, further smaller excursions were undertaken in the surrounding area, hampered by the fact that several men felt sick.

On November 25th, the ice conditions of the Pourquoi Pas? finally to leave their safe haven. Charcot first headed for Deception Island to replenish the coal reserves. A Norwegian diver found serious damage to the ship's hull and advised against continuing the journey. But Charcot decided to continue the expedition. On December 23, the ship set course for Hope Bay , but the ice prevented it from reaching it. A day later, it circled Bridgeman Island , which Gourdon and Godfroy entered first, and then headed for the south coast of King George Island. The Pourquoi Pas drove over Deception Island ? directly in the direction of Alexander I Island and in a westerly direction, where an island was discovered on January 10, 1910, which is now called Charcot Island after the father of the discoverer . Driving further west, Peter I Island was sighted for the first time since its discovery by Fabian von Bellingshausen in 1821. Charcot reached a latitude of 70 ° 30 ′ S, but was prevented from reaching the coast by thick pack ice to approach the Antarctic continent further. On January 22nd, Charcot steered the ship north and entered the port of Punta Arenas on February 11th.

The results of the expedition confirmed Charcot's rank as an important explorer. 2000 kilometers of coastline had been cleared, and the processing of the scientific data finally filled 28 volumes. The Royal Geographical Society awarded him the Patron's Medal in 1911 for his scientific work during both Antarctic expeditions.

Arctic exploration

Memorial plaque for Jean-Baptiste Charcot in Ittoqqortoormiit

After his second voyage, Charcot never returned to Antarctica. But he worked regularly in the northern polar regions. In 1912 he drove with Gourdon on the Pourquoi Pas? after Jan Mayen and studied the volcanic activity of the Eggøya peninsula , which is formed by the northern half of an old crater. In 1913 they returned to Jan Mayen for further studies.

During the First World War , Charcot initially served as a naval doctor and later commanded a Q-ship . In the post-war years, he made annually ship trips to different parts of the Atlantic for scientific purposes . In 1925 he learned from Jan Mayen that Bjerring Petersen's contact with the Danish East Greenland expedition had been lost. On the north bank of Scorsebysund ( Kangertittivaq ) he found the expedition, the participants of which were doing well, with the exception of Petersen's, after whose death radio contact was broken because none of the other six spoke Morse code. Since his help was not needed, Charcot took the opportunity to collect fossils in Jamesonland. Until 1936 he devoted himself to exploring East Greenland . He visited Scoresbysund ( Ittoqqortoormiit ) particularly frequently , which is why it was selected as the location for the French station in the Second International Polar Year 1932–1933. After he had deposed the station team, he visited Milneland Island in 1932 with Lauge Koch . The following year he brought the three-man Cambridge East Greenland Expedition to Hurry Fjord ( Kangerterajiva ) and brought the French explorers home from Scoresbysund.

In September 1936 he got caught with the Pourquoi Pas? off Iceland in a heavy storm. The ship ran onto the Hnokki rock at the entrance of Borgarfjörður ( location ) and sank. Charcot and 39 men of the crew died, only the helmsman Eugène Gonidec could be saved. Most of the men's bodies, including Charcot's, washed up over the next few days. You were transferred to France in early October. Bodies found later were buried in the Reykjavík cemetery.

Honors

Charcot as namesake

The Charcot Cove , a bay on the east coast of Victoria Land , the Charcot Bay in Graham Land , deepwater formation Charcot fan off the coast of Ellsworthlandes , the Charcot-Canyon west of the Antarctic Peninsula , the Cape Charcot at the Melba Peninsula , the Charcot Glacier on the Beerenberg on Jan Mayen and the former (1957 to 1960) Charcot station in the interior of Adélieland are named after him. In the Greenland municipality of Sermersooq , the Charcot Fjelde mountain range , the Charcot Havn bay and the Charcot glacier on the island of Milneland bear his name, in the Northeast Greenland National Park the area Charcot Land on the northwest fjord .

A French research vessel commissioned in 1965 bears the name Jean-Charcot .

The Charcot Museum

A museum dedicated to Jean-Baptiste Charcot was opened on February 25, 2007 at the Reykjanes Research Center for Marine Biology in Sandgerði . It recognizes his life as an explorer and his close relationships with Iceland. A model of the Pourquoi-Pas? , Original items that belonged to Charcot, as well as papers, paintings, photos, etc. a.

Memberships

In 1926 he was elected to the Académie des Sciences .

Works

  • Le "Français" au pôle Sud , 1906
  • Le “Pourquoi pas?” Dans l'Antarctique 1908–1910 , 1911
  • Autour du pôle Sud , 1912 (German Around the South Pole )
  • Christophe Colomb vu par un marin , 1928
  • La Mer du Groenland , 1929
  • The navigation mise à la portée de tous. Manuel pratique de navigation estimée et observée (with Georges Clerc-Rampal), 1931
  • Jean Charcot. Voyages aux îles Feroë , 1934

Documentation

  • Arctic pioneer - Jean-Baptiste Charcot. 87-minute television documentary by Marc Jampolsky (Arte, France 2016).

literature

  • Marthe Oulié: Charcot of the Antarctic . John Murray, London 1938 ( digitized , English).

Web links

Commons : Jean-Baptiste Charcot  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b John Stewart: Antarctica - An Encyclopedia . Vol. 1, McFarland & Co., Jefferson and London 2011, ISBN 978-0-7864-3590-6 , p. 306 (English)
  2. ^ A b Beau Riffenburgh: Charcot, Jean-Baptiste . In: Beau Riffenburgh (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Antarctic , Routledge, New York and London 2007, p. 220 f, ISBN 0-415-97024-5 (English)
  3. ^ Head of the Vanderbilts Suffers His Second Stroke of Paralysis. Attack Almost Instantly Fatal , in the Los Angeles Herald on September 13, 1899 (English)
  4. ↑ Cornelius Vanderbilt Sailes. He Leaves Salins d'Hyeres for Alexandria on the Catania with a Doctor and Guests , in New York Times on December 31, 1897 (English)
  5. ↑ David E. Yelverton: Quest for a Phantom Strait. The Saga of the Pioneer Antarctic Peninsula Expeditions 1897–1905 . Polar Publishing Ltd., 2004, p. 41 f (English)
  6. ↑ David E. Yelverton: Quest for a Phantom Strait. The Saga of the Pioneer Antarctic Peninsula Expeditions 1897–1905 . Polar Publishing Ltd., 2004, p. 42 (English)
  7. ^ A b c John Stewart: Antarctica - An Encyclopedia . Vol. 1, McFarland & Co., Jefferson and London 2011, ISBN 978-0-7864-3590-6 , p. 589 (English)
  8. ↑ David E. Yelverton: Quest for a Phantom Strait. The Saga of the Pioneer Antarctic Peninsula Expeditions 1897–1905 . Polar Publishing Ltd., 2004, p. 44 (English)
  9. ↑ David E. Yelverton: Quest for a Phantom Strait. The Saga of the Pioneer Antarctic Peninsula Expeditions 1897–1905 . Polar Publishing Ltd., 2004, p. 45 (English)
  10. ^ Paul Ward: Jean-Baptiste Charcot - Français. French Antarctic Expedition 1903–1905 , on www.coolantarctica.com (English)
  11. ↑ David E. Yelverton: Quest for a Phantom Strait. The Saga of the Pioneer Antarctic Peninsula Expeditions 1897–1905 . Polar Publishing Ltd., 2004, p. 52 (English)
  12. ↑ David E. Yelverton: Quest for a Phantom Strait. The Saga of the Pioneer Antarctic Peninsula Expeditions 1897–1905 . Polar Publishing Ltd., 2004, p. 57 (English)
  13. ^ Ian R. Stone: French Antarctic (Français) Expedition (1903-1905) . In: Beau Riffenburgh (ed.): Encyclopedia of the Antarctic , Routledge, New York and London 2007, pp. 419–421, ISBN 0-415-97024-5 (English)
  14. ↑ Mme. Charcot Seeks Divorce. Granddaughter of Victor Hugo Charges Her Husband with Desertion , in New York Times on February 16, 1905 (English)
  15. ↑ Jean Baptiste Charcot Le Commandant on GeneaNet, accessed September 24, 2013 (French)
  16. ^ A b c Ian R. Stone: French Antarctic (Pourquoi Pas?) Expedition (1908-1910) . In: Beau Riffenburgh (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Antarctic , Routledge, New York and London 2007, p. 421 f, ISBN 0-415-97024-5 (English)
  17. ^ Paul Ward: Jean-Baptiste Charcot - Pourquoi Pas ?. Second French Antarctic Expedition 1908–1910 , at www.coolantarctica.com (English)
  18. ↑ HR Guly: 'Polar anemia': cardiac failure during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration . In: The Polar Record . tape 48 , no. 2 , April 2012, p. 157–164 , doi : 10.1017 / S0032247411000222 , PMID 23564976 , PMC 3617608 (free full text) - (English).
  19. ^ Jean Charcot: Around the South Pole , Schwarzwald-Verlag, Freudenstadt 1948, p. 326
  20. ^ John Stewart: Antarctica - An Encyclopedia . Vol. 1, McFarland & Co., Jefferson and London 2011, ISBN 978-0-7864-3590-6 , p. 590 (English)
  21. ↑ List of Gold Medal Winners from the Royal Geographic Society , accessed June 17, 2018.
  22. ↑ Eggøya . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
  23. ^ William James Mills: Exploring Polar Frontiers - A Historical Encyclopedia . tape 1 . ABC-CLIO, 2003, ISBN 1-57607-422-6 , pp. 139 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  24. ↑ Marthe Oulie: Charcot of the Antarctic . John Murray, London 1938, pp. 167 ff. (English).
  25. ^ Susan Barr: The French expedition to Greenland . In: Susan Barr, Cornelia Lüdecke (Ed.): The History of the International Polar Years (IPYs) , Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-12401-3 , p. 183 (English)
  26. ↑ a b Anthony K. Higgins: Exploration history of northern East Greenland (PDF; 2.9 MB). In: Exploration history and place names of northern East Greenland (= Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 21, 2010), ISBN 978-87-7871-292-9 . P. 32 (English)
  27. ↑ Friðrik Rafnsson: The Friendship Pact on charcot.is, accessed on October 13, 2016.
  28. ↑ Jean-Babtiste Charcot (PDF; 268 kB) on borgarbyggd.is, accessed on October 13, 2016 (Icelandic).
  29. ↑ Friðrik Rafnsson: Charcot on charcot.is, accessed on October 13, 2016.
  30. ^ "Jean-Charcot" - A multi-purpose research vessel (PDF; 1.65 MB).
  31. ↑ Friðrik Rafnsson: The Charcot Museum on charcot.is, accessed on March 18, 2017.
  32. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter C. Académie des sciences, accessed on October 28, 2019 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Charcot, Jean-Baptiste
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Charcot, Jean-Baptiste Étienne Auguste (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French scientist and polar explorer
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuilly-sur-Seine
DATE OF DEATH September 16, 1936