Brian Birley Roberts

In childhood he developed an interest in birds, photography and the polar regions, which was stimulated by adventurous family holidays[3] As an undergraduate, Roberts led Cambridge expeditions to Vatnajökull, Iceland (1932)[4][5] and to Scoresbysund, east Greenland (1933).

Later that year, he joined the three-year British Graham Land Expedition to the Antarctic led by John Rymill.

[8] His experience with appendicitis during the first year of the expedition was turned to advantage when circumstances necessitated his spending time both in the Falkland Islands and in South Georgia, where the sub-Antarctic wildlife presented him with rich study opportunities.

[9] Brian Roberts' pioneering work on Wilson's petrel[10] and research on the breeding behavior of penguins[11] earned him a Cambridge doctorate.

From 1946 to 1975, Roberts continued to work part-time at the UK Foreign Office as its first Head of the Polar Regions Section, providing specialist knowledge on Antarctic history, politics, place naming and terminology, and initiating the post-war Antarctic Place-Names Committee.