Louis Bernacchi

Louis Charles Bernacchi (8 November 1876 – 24 April 1942) was an Australian physicist and astronomer best known for his role in several Antarctic expeditions.

Early life

Bernacchi was born in Belgium on 8 November 1876 to Italian parents in one of the communes of Brussels known as Schaerbeek. His father, Diego Bernacchi, established a vineyard on Maria Island in 1884. He was educated in Hobart, Tasmania, at the Hutchins School from May 1889 and finished at the school around Easter 1891. He entered the Melbourne Observatory in 1895, where he spent about three years studying magnetism and meteorology. During this period, he developed an interest in Antarctic exploration, expressed in letters to the press and by following the proceedings of Antarctic Exploration Committees.

Polar exploration

He joined Carstens Borchgrevink's Southern Cross expedition (1898–1900), which wintered at Cape Adare, Antarctica, joining the expedition in Christchurch, New Zealand, after the previous physicist candidate had been rejected on medical grounds. The expedition was the first to spend the winter on the Antarctic continent (the Belgian Antarctic Expedition having been first to overwinter in 1898) and the first to sledge towards the South Pole. He was awarded the Cuthbert-Peek Grant of the Royal Geographical Society that allowed him to work on the geomagnetic data. His granddaughter Janet Crawford has edited a version of his diaries from the expedition under the title "That First Antarctic Winter: The Story of the Southern Cross Expedition of 1898–1900".

He was again a physicist on the Discovery expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott (1901–1904). and later with the United States Navy. In 1919, he received both an Order of the British Empire and the United States Navy Cross. Following the war, he returned to his interests in rubber.

Taxon named in his honor A species of Antarctic fish, the Trematomus bernacchii, was named in his honor.

Stamps In 2001, Australia Post issued a postal stamp in honour of the 100th anniversary of Australia's involvement in Antarctic exploration.

Sculptures The Premier of Tasmania, Jim Bacon, unveiled sculptures of Bernacchi and fellow explorers at Sullivans Cove.

Writings

The South Polar Times. London: Smith, Elder & co., 1907–1914. (Volume 2 editor.) An exact reproduction of the South Polar Times originally issued during the Antarctic expeditions of Robert F. Scott. Saga of the "Discovery". London: Glasgow, Blackie and son, Ltd. : Re-printed by Rooster Books Ltd (2001) To the south polar regions: expedition of 1898–1900. By Louis Bernacchi; introduction by D.W.H. Walton. Denton, Harleston, Norfolk: Bluntisham Books : Erskine Press, 1991. A very gallant gentleman. London: T. Butterworth, ltd. . That first Antarctic winter : the story of the Southern Cross Expedition of 1898–1900 as told in the diaries of Louis Charles Bernacchi / written and edited by Janet Crawford (Louis' granddaughter). Christchurch, N.Z.: South Latitude Research Ltd., in association with P.J. Skellerup, c1998.