Biography
Edward Leicester Atkinson (1881–1929) was a British naval surgeon, parasitologist and Antarctic explorer. He served as senior medical officer and parasitologist on Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s British Antarctic (Terra Nova) Expedition of 1910–1913, accompanying the polar party part of the way and later assuming command of the base at Cape Evans. He led the search party that recovered the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers in November 1912.
Archive footage of Atkinson from the expedition appears in the 1924 documentary The Great White Silence, directed by Herbert Ponting, in which he is credited as Self. He is also seen in the related 1933 film 90° South. After the expedition Atkinson continued naval service, including distinguished work during the First World War, and published on parasitology.
