Wladimir Besnard

Wladimir Besnard (1890, St. Petersburg, Russia – 1960, São Paulo, Brazil) was a French biologist [1] and Brazilian oceanographer, and is considered to be the father of Brazilian oceanography.

As a biologist he is credited (together with Theodore Monod) with the discovery of the skeleton of the Asselar man in 1927 [2][3] (although various sources refer to him as M.M.

During 1967–2008 Brazil operated Professor W. Besnard, its only oceanographic vessel at that time.

The ship was launched on August 18, 1966, from the shipyard Mjellem & Karlsen, Norway, and belonged to the Institute of Oceanography of the University of São Paulo.

In 2012 a new ship, Alpha Crucis, has replaced the Professor W.