Jean-Baptiste Charcot

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Jean-Baptiste Auguste Étienne Charcot
Charcot in 1925
Born	15 July 1867 (1867-07-15) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Died	16 September 1936 (1936-09-17) (aged 69) at sea, off Iceland
Nationality	French
Occupation(s)	Polar explorer, medical doctor, Olympian, scientist
Known for	his polar explorations
Spouse	Jeanne Hugo (1896–1905; div.)
Sports career
Sailing career
Class(es)	0 to 0.5 ton Open class
Medal record Sailing Representing  France Olympic Games 1900 Paris Ton class 1st race 1900 Paris Ton class 2nd race
Updated on 2014-02-08

Jean-Baptiste Étienne Auguste Charcot, better known in France as Commandant Charcot,^[1][2] (15 July 1867 in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris – 16 September 1936 at sea (30 miles north-west of Reykjavik, Iceland), was a French scientist, medical doctor and polar scientist. His father was the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (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.

Jean-Baptiste Charcot was appointed leader of the French Antarctic Expedition with the ship Français exploring the west coast of Graham Land from 1904 until 1907. The expedition reached Adelaide Island in 1905 and took pictures of the Palmer Archipelago and Loubet Coast. From 1908 until 1910, another expedition followed with the ship Pourquoi Pas ?, exploring the Bellingshausen Sea and the Amundsen Sea and discovering Loubet Land, Marguerite Bay, Mount Boland and Charcot Island, which was named after his father, Jean-Martin Charcot.^[3] He named Hugo Island after Victor Hugo, the grandfather of his wife, Jeanne Hugo.

Later on, Jean-Baptiste Charcot explored Rockall in 1921 and Eastern Greenland and Svalbard from 1925 until 1936. He died when Pourquoi-Pas ? was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Iceland in 1936.

Charcot participated in many sports. He won two silver medals in sailing at the Summer Olympics of 1900.^[4][5]

A monument to Charcot was created in Reykjavík, Iceland by sculptor Einar Jónsson in 1936 and another by Ríkarður Jónsson in 1952.

Charcot has had various places and things named after him:

• Charcotiana, a lichen genus^[6]
• Charcot Bay, Antarctica
• Charcot Fan, an abyssal fan in the Southern Ocean
• Charcot Land, a peninsula in Greenland
• Le Commandant Charcot, an icebreaking cruise ship

• Le "Pourquoi pas?" dans l'Antarctique 1908–1910, Arthaud, Paris, 1996, ISBN 2-7003-1088-8

• Jean-Baptiste Charcot at Olympics.com
• Jean-Baptiste Charcot at Olympedia
• Sur les traces du "Pourquoi-Pas?"
• Icelandic website in memory of Jean-Babtiste Charcot"
• Newspaper clippings about Jean-Baptiste Charcot in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW