Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery

Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery was born in 1866 into a wealthy family in Hasselt, Belgium. He joined the Royal Belgian Navy, taking particular interest in scientific research. In 1895, he began planning, organizing and raising funds for a southern polar expedition, eventually leading the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, 1897-1899. The expedition ship Belgica visited Tierra del Fuego before continuing to the South Shetland Islands. The ship was beset by pack ice and drifted south of Peter I y for 12 months, the first exploring vessel to winter in the Southern Ocean with its crew becoming the first men wintering south of the Antarctic Circle. A comprehensive scientific programme was undertaken and detailed collections were made.

After this expedition, de Gerlache led a zoological expedition to the Persian Gulf. He made a number of significant expeditions to the Arctic, among them Greenland in 1905 and 1909 and the Barents and Kara Seas in 1907. He did not return to Antarctica, but maintained polar interests and assisted others, including Jean Baptiste Charcot and Ernest Henry Shackleton, with preparations for polar work. He died in 1934.

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