Edward Leicester Atkinson qualified at St Thomas's Hospital in 1906 and joined the Navy in 1908. He was a doctor and parasitologist on Captain Scott's Terra Nova expedition to the Antarctic and had to take charge of the expedition when Scott died on his return from the South Pole. After the expedition he went to China and discovered the cause of schistosomiasis, returning at the start of the First World War in which he served with distinction, winning a DSO and Albert Medal but also being severely injured. After the war he served in various naval posts and became the youngest Surgeon Captain in the Navy before being retired on health grounds in 1928. He died at sea the following year.
BrownK. Edward Adrian Wilson (1872–1912): Polar explorer and artist. Journal of Medical Biography1912; 20: 169–172.
2.
GulyH. George Murray Levick (1876–1956): Antarctic explorer. Journal of Medical Biography. (In Press.
3.
Anon. The services: Prize distribution at Haslar. British Medical Journal1908; 2: 1048–1048.
4.
ScottRF. Robert Falcon Scott journals: Captain Scott's last expedition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 111, 242, 184, 191–111, 242, 184, 191.
5.
GulyH. History of accidental hypothermia. Resuscitation2011; 82: 122–125.
6.
SeaverG. Edward Wilson of the Antarctic, London: John Murray, 1940, pp. 236–236.
7.
WilsonE. Diary of the Terra Nova expedition to the Antarctic 1910–1912, London: Blandford Press, 1972, pp. 127–188.
8.
CampbellWC. Edward Leicester Atkinson: Physician, parasitologist, and adventurer. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences1991; 46: 219–240.
9.
CampbellWC. Heather and Ice: an excursion in historical parasitology?Journal of Parasitology1988; 74: 1–12.
10.
AtkinsonELThe last year at Cape Evans. With the finding of the polar party. In: ScottRF (ed). Scott's last expedition Vol. 2, 4th ed. London: Smith Elder & Co, 1914, pp. 308, 298–349–308, 298–349.
11.
WheelerS. Cherry: A life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, London: Jonathan Cape, 2001, pp. 140–140.
12.
Cherry-GarrardA. The worst journey in the world, London: Picador, 2001, pp. 458–458.
13.
MarshallE. Letters to Dr EJC Kendall 24 Aug 1950, Cambridge: Scott Polar Research InstituteMS 656/1–4.
14.
GulyH. The death of Robert Falcon Scott and colleagues. Journal of Medical Biography2012; 20: 160–163.
15.
HuntfordR. The last place on earth, London: Abacus, 2000, pp. 519–522, 536–522536–536.
16.
BullCWrightPF. Silas: The Antarctic diaries and memoir of Charles S Wright, Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1993, pp. 275–276.
17.
AtkinsonEL. A method of growing yeast for making bread. Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service1915; 1: 202–203.
18.
MarshallES. An Antarctic interlude. Medical Press and Circular1943; 210: 359–362.
19.
GulyHR. The understanding of scurvy during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. Polar Record2013; 49: 110–117.
20.
GulyHR. ‘Polar anaemia’: Cardiac failure during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. Polar Record2012; 48: 157–164.
21.
AtkinsonEL. An expedition to the Far East to investigate the spread of trematode diseases, with special reference to Schistosoma Japonicum, and with a note on some protozoa as causes of dysentery. Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service1916; 2: 485–490.
22.
LeiperRTAtkinsonEL. Observations on the spread of Asiatic schistosomiasis. British Medical Journal1915; 1: 201–203.
23.
NelsonGS. A milestone on the road to the discovery of the lifecycles of the human schistosomes. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene1977; 26: 1093–1100.
24.
AtkinsonEL. The fly pest at Gallipoli. Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service1916; 2: 147–152.
25.
Anon. London Gazette21 June 1918, pp. 7304–7304.
26.
Anon. London Gazette20 May 1919, pp. 6248–6248.
27.
Anon. No title. British Medical Journal1920; 1: 355–355.
28.
AtkinsonELEquipment and stores. In: LyonsHG (ed). British (Terra Nova) Antarctic Expedition 1910–1913: Miscellaneous data, London: Harrison & Sons Ltd, 1924, pp. 30–60.
29.
AtkinsonEL. The British Antarctic Expedition 1910–1913. Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service1915; 1: 1–14.
30.
AtkinsonEL. Influenza – pneumococci in fauces. Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service1919; 5: 325–325.
31.
AtkinsonELFrederickRC. The influence of minute quantities of metallic salts in water on its bacteriological content. Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service1921; 7: 123–128.
32.
AtkinsonEL. A case of suppurative appendicitis operated on at sea. Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service1926; 12: 235–236.
