Emil Bessels was a German zoologist, entomologist, physician, and Arctic researcher who is best known for his controversial role in the attempted but ill-fated Polaris expedition to the North Pole in 1871.
12 Facts About Emil Bessels
2.
Emil Bessels spent much of his scientific career at the Smithsonian Institution.
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In 1869, on suggestion from August Petermann, Emil Bessels joined the German North Polar expedition to the Arctic Sea with the aim of investigating the islands of Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, and surveying the ocean in their vicinity.
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Emil Bessels was called to the field as military surgeon and rendered service in the hospitals, for which he received a public commendation from Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden.
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In 1871, Emil Bessels joined the United States North Polar expedition, better known as the Polaris expedition, commanded by eccentric American explorer Charles Francis Hall, who aimed to be the first to reach the North Pole.
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Emil Bessels signed on as ship's physician and as head of the scientific team.
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When Hall became ill in October 1871, Emil Bessels remained by his bedside for several days, ostensibly to administer medical treatment.
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However, Hall suspected that Emil Bessels was poisoning him and refused further contact.
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Emil Bessels stayed with the Smithsonian Institution for several years in the 1870s, where he worked preparing the publication of the expedition's scientific results.
10.
Emil Bessels planned a work on the Inuit, but all his manuscripts were destroyed by fire in 1885.
11.
Emil Bessels later considered mounting his own Arctic expedition, but eventually decided against it.
12.
Emil Bessels died of a stroke in Stuttgart in 1888, at the age of 40.