Bruce, William Speirs (spirz) [key], 1867–1921, Scottish explorer and authority on the polar regions. He first went to the Antarctic as ship's surgeon in 1892 and later did survey work in Franz Josef Land and oceanographic work in the Arctic Ocean. He led (1902–4) the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition in the Scotia, performing much valuable scientific research in the Weddell Sea and discovering Coats Land. Bruce established a meteorological station on Laurie Island (in the South Orkney group). He edited the reports of the expedition (6 vol.) and wrote Polar Exploration (1911). Bruce made a number of voyages to Spitsbergen and became an authority on the islands.
See R. N. Rudmose Brown, A Naturalist at the Poles (1923).
