Person

Koettlitz, Reginald (1860 - 1916)

Born
23 December 1860
Ostend, Belgium
Died
January 1916
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Occupation
Antarctic explorer and Physician

Summary

Reginald Koettlitz was a medical practitioner who trained at Guy's Hospital, London. His first polar experience was as surgeon with the Jackson-Harmsworth Arctic Expedition to Franz Josef Land, during which he learned valuable polar survival techniques. His geological studies on this Expedition earned him membership of the Royal Geographical Society, London. Between 1898 and his appointment to the British National Antarctic Expedition in 1901 he travelled in Abyssinia, Somaliland and Brasil. As surgeon and botanist on the Antarctic expedition, Koettlitz devoted much time to pioneering studies of the lichens, mosses and phytoplankton of the region, and was the first to describe the flora of Ross Island. Many of his collections from the Expedition are in the Natural History Museum, London. He also took the first coloured photographs in Antarctica. After the Expedition he practiced in South Africa. Koettlitz Island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago and Koettlitz Glacier, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, were named in his honour.

Details

Chronology

1888
Education - Qualified as physician, Guy's Hospital, London
1888 - 1894
Career event - In practice, Butterknowle, County Durham, United Kingdom
1894 - 1897
Career position - Physician and geologist, Jackson-Harmsworth Arctic Expedition to Franz Josef Land
1898
Life event - Travelling in Abyssinia and Somaliland
1900
Life event - Travelling in Brasil
1901 - 1904
Career position - Surgeon and botanist, British National Antarctic Expedition

Related Events

Published resources

Books

  • Jones, Aubrey A., Scott's forgotten surgeon: Dr Reginald Koettlitz, polar explorer (Dunbeath, Scotland: Whittles Publishing, 2011), 209 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Anon, 'Obituary: Dr Reginald Koettlitz', Geographical journal, 47 (2) (1916), 150-1. Details
  • Guly, Henry, 'Dr Reginald Koettlitz (1860-1916): Arctic and Antarctic explorer', Journal of Medical Biography, 20 (4) (2012), 141-7. Details

Helen Cohn

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