- Steve Fossett
James Stephen Fossett (born April 22, 1944, in Jackson, Tennessee) is a American aviator and adventurer known for his appetite to set world records. Fossett, who made his fortune in the American financial services industry, is best known for his five world record non-stop circumnavigations of the Earth: as a long-distance solo balloonist, as a sailor, and as a solo airplane pilot. Fossett has set 116 records in five different sports, 76 of which still stand. - Richard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS (March 19, 1821 - October 20, 1890) was a British explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke twenty-nine European, Asian, and African languages. - David Livingstone
David Livingstone (19 March 1813 - 4 May 1873) was a Scottish Presbyterian pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and explorer in central Africa. He was the first European to see Victoria Falls, which he named in honour of the reigning monarch. He is the subject of the meeting with H. M. Stanley, which gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" - Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lumley OBE, FRGS (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress and former model who is best known for her roles in "The New Avengers", "Absolutely Fabulous", "Sapphire and Steel" and "Sensitive Skin". - Redmond O'Hanlon
Redmond O'Hanlon (born 1947) is a British author. He was educated at Marlborough school and then Oxford University. He was elected a member of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History in 1982, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1984 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1993. For fifteen years he was the natural history editor of the "Times Literary Supplement". He is not to be confused with Redmond O'Hanlon (outlaw), … - Francis Galton
Sir Francis Galton F.R.S. (February 16, 1822 - January 17, 1911), half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an English Victorian polymath, anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician. He was knighted in 1909. Galton had a prolific intellect, and produced over 340 papers and books throughout his lifetime. - John Franklin
Rear Admiral Sir John Franklin FRGS (April 15, 1786 - June 11, 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer who mapped almost two thirds of the northern coastline of North America and whose last expedition disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The entire crew perished from starvation and exposure after Franklin died and the expedition's icebound ships were abandoned in desperation. - Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace OM, FRS (8 January 1823 - 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist. He did extensive fieldwork first in the Amazon River basin, and then in the Malay Archipelago, where he identified the Wallace line dividing the fauna of Australia from that of Asia. - James Augustus Grant
James Augustus Grant (April 11, 1827 - February 11, 1892) was a Scottish explorer of eastern equatorial Africa. Grant was born at Nairn in the Scottish Highlands, where his father was the parish minister, and educated at the grammar school and Marischal College, Aberdeen. In 1846 he joined the Indian army. He saw active service in the Sikh War (1848-49), served throughout the Indian Mutiny of 1857, and was wounded in the operations for the relief of Lucknow. - Samuel Baker
Sir Samuel White Baker (8 June 1821 - 30 December, 1893) was an English explorer. - Thomas Baines
(John) Thomas Baines (27 November 1820 - 8 May 1875) was an English artist and explorer of British colonial southern Africa and Australia. Born in King's Lynn in Norfolk, United Kingdom, Baines was apprenticed to a coach painter at an early age. When he was 22 he left England for South Africa aboard the "Olivia" (captained by a family friend William Roome) and worked for a while in Cape Town as a scenic and portrait artist, … - Mikael Strandberg
Mikael Strandberg (born 1962) is a Swedish explorer, filmmaker and writer. - Kenn Harper
Kenn Harper was a founder of a number of the real estate holding companies which Urbco acquired in 1998. He was a Vice-President and a Director of Urbco. He is also the President and owner of High Arctic Management Services Ltd., which has property, hotel, retail and management interests in the Baffin region of Nunavut. He is a past president of the Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Nunavut Historical Advisory Board. - Robert Swan
Robert Swan, OBE, BA, FRGS was born in 1956 in Durham, England and attended Sedbergh School (1969-1974) before completing a BA in Ancient History (1976-1979) at Durham University. Fascinated by the story of Robert Falcon Scott's epic journey to reach the South Pole in 1911-12, in which he and his companions died shortly after finding they'd been beaten to their goal by the Norwegian team led by Amundsen, Swan decided to recreate the journey. - Christina Lamb
Christina Lamb (born May 15, 1965) is a British journalist and author. In 2002, she was named Foreign Correspondent of the Year in every major British media awards (the British Press Awards, the Foreign Press Association and the What the Papers Say Awards) for her reporting on the War on Terrorism. She has won numerous awards, including the Young Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards for her coverage of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. - Grenfell Price
Sir Archibald Grenfell Price FRGS (January 28, 1892 North Adelaide - July 20, 1977 North Adelaide) was an Australian geographer, historian and educationist. - Robert Swinhoe
Robert Swinhoe (September 1, 1836 - October 28, 1877) was an English naturalist. Swinhoe was born in Calcutta, India. There is no clear record of the date of his arrival in England, but it is known he attended the University of London, and in 1854 joined the China consular corps. He was stationed to the remote port of Amoy, some 300 miles to the northeast of Hong Kong, in 1855. - John Arthur
John William Arthur, OBE, MD (born Glasgow, 1881, died Edinburgh, 1952) was a medical missionary and Church of Scotland minister who served in British East Africa (Kenya) from 1907 to 1937. He was known simply as "Doctor Arthur" to generations of Africans. - Francis Beaufort
Sir Francis Beaufort was an Irish hydrographer and officer in the British Royal Navy. Beaufort was the creator of the Beaufort scale for indicating wind force. From the circle representing a weather station, a stave (as in musical notation) extends, with one or more half or whole barbs. For example, a stave with 3 ½ barbs represents Beaufort seven on the scale, decoded as 32-38 mph, or a "Fresh Gale". - Daniel Byles
Daniel (Dan) Alan Byles FRGS (British, born 1974) is a mountaineer, sailor, ocean rower, and polar explorer. In 1997 he took part in the first ever Atlantic Rowing Race, the Port St Charles Barbados Atlantic Rowing Race, successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean unsupported in a 23 foot wooden rowing boat in 101 days with his mother Janice Meek. In 2007 he and his mother were united in adventure once again when, together with team mate Richard Profit, … - Samuel Marinus Zwemer
Samuel Marinus Zwemer (April 12, 1867-April 2, 1952) nicknamed 'The Apostle to Islam' was an American missionary, traveler, and scholar. He was born at Vriesland, Michigan. In 1887 he graduated from Hope College, Holland, Mich., in 1890, he graduated from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Brunswick, N. J. After being ordained to the Reformed Church ministry, he was a missionary at Busrah, Bahrein, and at other locations in Arabia from 1891 to 1905. - Roz Savage
Rosalind (Roz) Savage is a British amateur rower and runner. - Sir John Barrow 1st Baronet
Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet, FRS, FRGS, LL.D (June 19, 1764 - November 23, 1848) was an English statesman. He was born in the hamlet of Dragley Beck in the parish of Ulverston in Lancashire. He started in life as superintending clerk of an iron foundry at Liverpool and afterwards, in his twenties, taught mathematics at a private school in Greenwich. Through the interest of Sir George Leonard Staunton, to whose son he taught mathematics, … - Martha Louise Black
Martha Louise Black (February 24, 1866 - October 31, 1957) was a Canadian politician and the second woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons. Born Martha Louise Munger in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Dawson and Susan Munger, she was educated at Saint Mary's College (Indiana). In 1904, she married George Black, Commissioner of the Yukon. - William Thomson
William Thomson (February 11, 1819 - December 25, 1890) was an English church leader, Archbishop of York from 1862 until his death. He was born at Whitehaven, Cumberland, and educated at Shrewsbury School and at The Queen's College, Oxford, of which he became a scholar. He took his B.A. degree in 1840, and was soon afterwards made fellow of his college. He was ordained in 1842, and worked as a curate at Cuddesdon. In 1847 he was made tutor of his college, … - Richard Strachey
Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Strachey (1817 - 1908), British soldier and Indian administrator, third son of Edward Strachey, was born on 24 July 1817, at Sutton Court, Stowey Somerset. From Addiscombe he passed into the Bengal Engineers in 1836, and was employed for some years on irrigation works in the Northwestern Provinces. Strachey served in the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845-46, and was at the battles of Aliwal and Sobraon, was mentioned in dispatches, … - Howard Saunders
Howard Saunders (September 16, 1835 - October 20, 1907) was a British ornithologist. Saunders was born in London and received his early education iat Leatherhead and Rottingdean. Subsequently he earned his money as a merchant banker. This allowed him to travel widely. In 1855 he went to Brazil and Chile, returning in 1862. He then devoted his time to the investigation of the avifauna of Spain, publishing a number of articles on the subject in "The Ibis", … - Janice Meek
Janice (Jan) Meek (formerly Janice Byles) FRGS (British, born 1944) is a Guinness World Record holding adventurer, ocean rower, international motivational speaker and soon to be polar explorer. In 1997 she took part in the first ever Atlantic Rowing Race, the Port St Charles Barbados Atlantic Rowing Race,successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean unsupported in 23 foot wooden rowing boat in 101 days with her son Daniel Byles. - Charles Tilstone Beke
Charles Tilstone Beke (10 October 1800-31 July 1874), English traveller, geographer, and biblical critic, was born in Stepney, London. His father was a merchant in the City of London, and for a few years Beke engaged in mercantile pursuits. He afterwards studied law at Lincoln's Inn, and for a time practised at the bar, but finally devoted himself to the study of historical, geographical and ethnographical subjects. - George William Allan
George William Allan, PC (January 9, 1822 - July 24, 1901) was a Canadian politician. Allan's father, William, was a pioneer who settled what was then the Township of York during John Graves Simcoe's term as Governor. William Allan eventually became the city's first postmaster and was appointed to the Legislative Council of Upper Canada and was a supporter of the Family Compact. - Hormuzd Rassam
Hormuzd Rassam (1826 - 16 September, 1910) was an Assyrian Assyriologist and traveller who made a number of important discoveries, including the stone tablets that contained the "Epic of Gilgamesh", the worlds oldest literature. - Richard Chorley
Richard John Chorley (4 September 1927 - 12 May 2002) was a leading figure in the late 20th century for his work in quantitative geography, and played an instrumental role in bringing in the use of systems theory to geography. - Moses Harvey
Moses Harvey LL.D. (March 21, 1820 - September 3, 1901) clergyman, essayist and naturalist born Armagh, Ireland and died in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Harvey was of Scottish descent and was educated at the Royal Academical Institute at Belfast. He became an ordained minister in the Presbyterian ministry in 1844. Harvey served at the John Street Presbyterian Church, Maryport, Cumberland, England until he emigrated to St. - John Goldingham
John Goldingham was the first official astronomer of the Madras Observatory, appointed in 1802. Goldingham headed the Madras Survey School later which grew into the Guindy Engineering College and then Anna University. Born in London in 1767, Goldingham was hired by astronomer-sailor Michael Topping as his assistant in 1788. Goldingham was put in charge of building an observatory in 1792, and later appointed as the Presidency Civil Engineer in 1800. - H. V. F. Winstone
Harry Victor Frederick Winstone FRGS, known as Victor, (born 1926) is an English author and journalist, who specialises in Middle Eastern topics. He has written biographies of several influential figures in the history of this region. Victor Winstone worked as a reporter and features writer with weekly journals and a financial features agency from 1947 - 50. He was an industrial journal editor and press advisor to Royal Doulton and others during the 1950s and 60s. - Nick Middleton
Nick Middleton is a physical geographer and supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He specialises in desertification. Nick Middleton was born in London, England. As a geographer he has travelled to more than 50 countries. "Going to Extremes" is a television programme for Channel 4 about extreme lifestyles, in which Middleton experiences life in the hostile conditions other cultures must endure. He has appeared on BBC 2's "Through the Keyhole". - Frank Oates
Frank Oates (1840-1875), naturalist, explorer and uncle to Antarctic explorer Lawrence Oates. He was one of the first Europeans to see the Victoria Falls. - Ahmed Hassanein
Ahmed Pasha Hassanein (Arabic: أحمد باشا حسنين) or Aḥmad Moḥammad Makhlūf Ḥasanēn al-Būlākī (Arabic: أحمد محمد مخلوف حسنين البولاقى) is an Oxford-graduate Egyptian, grandson of the last Admiral of Egyptian fleet before the British dismantle it upon occupation on 1882, son of Al Azhar Professor, diplomat, Olympic participant in fencing, veteran Photographer, established writer in Arabic and English, King's tutor, politician, … - George Everest
Colonel Sir George Everest (4 July, 1790 - 1 December, 1866) was a Welsh surveyor, geographer and Surveyor-General of India from 1830 to 1843. He was largely responsible for completing the section of the Great Trigonometric Survey of India along the meridian arc from the south of India extending north to Nepal, a distance of approximately 2400 kilometres. The survey was started by William Lambton in 1806 and lasted several decades. - Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen
Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen F.R.S., F.Z.S., F.R.G.S., M.B.O.U. (6 July 1834 - 2 December 1923), was an English topographer, geologist and surveyor. He was born in Teignmouth as the son of Robert Alfred Cloyne Godwin-Austen. Godwin-Austen went to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He entered the army in 1851, reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and served for many years on the Trigonometrical Survey of India, retiring in 1877.
|
| |