Weyprecht, Karl

Weyprecht, Karl (kärl vī`prĕkht), 1838–81, German arctic explorer. With Julius von Payer he made a voyage to Novaya Zemlya in 1871. Weyprecht and Payer were leaders of an Austrian expedition (1872–74) to the arctic in the course of which Franz Josef Land was discovered. Weyprecht became an advocate of internationally coordinated exploration of the polar regions; his views were influential in the formation of the first International Polar Year of 1882–83.

Bibliography

See J. von Payer, New Lands within the Arctic Circle (1876).

---

Weyprecht, Karl 

Born Sept. 8, 1838, in König, Hesse; died Mar. 28, 1881, in Michelstadt, Hesse. Austrian polar explorer.

In the years 1872-74, Weyprecht and J. Payer headed an expedition on the ship Tegetthoff that was to make the northeast passage from the Barents Sea to the Bering Strait. The ship was icebound at Novaia Zemlia. For 372 days the expedition drifted north and northeast and during this period discovered land which was named Franz Josef Land after the emperor of Austria. During his stay in the Arctic, Weyprecht made a number of valuable scientific observations relating to geophysics and studied the characteristics of polar ice.

WORKS

“Die 2 Österreich-Ungarische Nordpolar-Expedition unter Weyprecht und Payer, 1872-74.” Petermanns geographische Mitteilungen. Gotha, 1875. Vol. 21, no. 2.

REFERENCE

Payer, J. 725 dnei vo Vdakh Arkhtiki. Leningrad, 1935. (Translated from German.)