Biographical entry Bernacchi, Louis Charles (1876 - 1942)

Summary

Louis Charles Bernacchi joined the "Southern Cross" expedition 1898-1900 as a physicist and astronomer and was the first Australian to work and winter in Antarctica. He went on the British National Antarctic Expedition 1901-04 and was at the Melbourne Observatory 1895-97.

Details

Born Belgium, 8 November 1876. Died London, 24 April 1942. OBE (mil.) 1919. Educated Hobart. Assistant, Melbourne Observatory 1895-97; physicist-astronomer, Borchgrevink's "Southern Cross" Antarctic expedition 1898-1900; physicist, British National Antarctic Expedition 1901-04; explorer, Africa and Peru 1905-06; rubber planter, Malaya 1907-14 and after World War I; lieutenant commander, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, anti-submarine division, Naval Staff, Admiralty and United States Navy 1914-19. Organised the British Polar Exhibition 1930; helped to organise the Second International Polar Year 1931-32; lieutenant-commander, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, working on the organisation of 'Q' ships 1939-42. Royal Geographical Society Medal 1906; King's Antarctic Medal 1906; French Cross of the Légion d'honneur 1906; United States Navy Cross 1919.

Published resources

Books

• Crawford, Janet, That First Antarctic Winter: the Story of the Southern Cross Expedition of 1898-1900 as Told in the Diaries of Louis Charles Bernacchi, Southern Latitude Research in association with Peter J. Skellerup, Christchurch, NZ, 1998, 270 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Swan, R. A., 'Bernacchi, Louis Charles (1876-1942), scientist and Antarctic explorer', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 7, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1979, pp. 275-276. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070278b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Swan, R. A., 'The First Australian Scientist to Work and Winter on the Antarctic Continent', Victorian Historical Magazine, vol. 33, 1963, pp. 379-398. Details

Online Resources

• 'Bernacchi, Louis Charles', in Physics in Australia to 1945, R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham, Australian Science Archives Project, June 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/physics/P001408p.htm. Details
• 'Bernacchi, L C', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-792389. Details

See also

• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/scripts/fam-dynindex.php3?EID=P001408. Details