William Speirs Bruce
William originally studied medicine at Edinburgh University, but dropped out to join a whaling expedition to the Falkland Islands. He lectured in geography at Heriot-Watt College from 1899-1901, and then from 1917 until his death. He was an avid recorder of weather, local wildlife and geology on his various expeditions, to Spitsbergen in particular. He is most famous for leading the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition of 1902-1904, and for establishing the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory.