Robert Fitzroy
Fitzroy, Robert
Born July 5, 1805, at Ampton Hall, Suffolk; died Apr. 30, 1865, in Norwood, Surrey. English hydrographer and meteorologist; vice admiral.
Between 1828 and 1830, in an expedition under Commander P. P. King, Fitzroy surveyed the southern tip of South America on the Beagle. From 1831 to 1836 he headed the oceanographic expedition on the Beagle, in which C. R. Darwin participated; during the expedition the coasts of Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and the Strait of Magellan were surveyed. In 1854, Fitzroy was appointed head of the meteorological department of the Board of Trade and organized the meteorological service in England, including a weather service to forecast storms.
WORKS
Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, vols. 1–3. London, 1839.REFERENCES
Khrgian, A. Kh. Ocherki razvitiia meteorologii. Leningrad, 1948.Magidovich, I. P. lstoriia otkrytiia i issledovaniia Tsentral’noi i luzhnoi Ameriki. Moscow, 1965.