Jean-Baptiste Charcot

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Jean-Baptiste Charcot

1867-1936

French doctor, scientist, and explorer who, after becoming a doctor, turned his hobby of sailing into a means of doing scientific research in and exploring the North Atlantic and Antarctica. Believing France should be among those countries sending exploratory and scientific expeditions to Antarctica, he purchased the Français in 1903 and sailed to the region. He also led other Antarctic expeditions aboard the Pourquois-Pas and later on, annual expeditions to the North Atlantic.