Robert Neal Rudmose-Brown

Robert Neal Rudmose-Brown was an academic botanist [Obituary of Robert Neal Rudmose Brown Transactions and Papers(Institute of British Geographers), No. 23 (1957), pp. viii-x ] and polar explorer. [ Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration Polar Record (Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute, 19th March 2001) Vol 38, No 204, Page 69]

Early life

Rudmose-Brown was born on 13 September 1879, the younger son of an Arctic enthusiast [ [http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6192351&secid=.-&hh=1 Biographical details] ] and educated at Dulwich College. After reading Natural Sciences at Aberdeen University his first academic post was teaching botany at University College, Dundee, at that time part of the University of St Andrews.

Antarctic exploration

At Dundee he met William Speirs Bruce who invited him to join the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition where he catalogued the wildlife of the South Orkney Islands [ [http://www.mapplanet.com/?do=loc&country=_A&adm1=02&loc=20010467 Peak named in his honour] ] . On returning home he became Bruce’s assistant at the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory [ [http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/scotia/gooant/gooant0603.htm Further details] ] , a consultant to the Scottish Spitsbergen Syndicate and vice-president of the International Polar Congress. In 1908 he was appointed a lecturer in geography at Sheffield University and spent several seasons as a field botanist in Svalbard.

War Service

As a result of this when war came he worked at the Intelligence Department of the Naval Staff in London with responsibility for Arctic information, a role he reprised between 1939 and 1945 [ Consequently being created a Commander of the Order of St Olav by the Norwegian Government Court Circular: The Times, Wednesday, Apr 26, 1944; pg. 8; Issue 49840; col B] .

Academic rise

In 1920 he became reader in geography at the Manchester University and in 1931 he returned to Sheffield as professor of geography [ On his retirement in 1945, becoming emeritus professor.] .

Reputation consolidated

He was president of the Institute of British Geographers between 1937 and 1938 and at different times served as the president of the Arctic and Antarctic clubs [1932 Antarctic;1949,Arctic: Who was Who Vol V p1623] . He died in Sheffield on 27 January 1957 [Who was Who(Ibid) states that his wife Edith died in 1950: they had one daughter.] , bequeathing his polar library to the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge [ [http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/0301rb2.html Rudmose-Brown Collection] ] .

References

Bibliography

*Rudmose-Brown, R. N., "The Voyage of the "Scotia", Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration in Antarctic Seas", 1906
*Rudmose-Brown, R. N., "Principles of Economic Geography", 1920 (new ed. 1926, 1931, 1939, 1946)
*Rudmose-Brown, R. N., " A Naturalist at the Poles: The Life, Work and Voyages of Dr. W.S. Bruce, the Polar Explorer", Seeley, Service & Co., London, 1923
*Rudmose-Brown, R. N., "The Polar Regions: A Physical and Economic Geography of the Arctic and Antarctic", Methuen, 1927
*Rudmose-Brown, R. N., 'Spitsbergen', "Encyclopaedia Britannica", (Vol. 21 pp. 248–249), 1955

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