Jules Dumont d'Urville

Jules Dumont d'Urville (May 23, 1790 - May 8, 1842) was a French explorer.

Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville was born in Condé-sur-Noireau[?], Basse-Normandie, France, was a French Rear Admiral and explorer of the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica.

His first feat that brought him much acclaim and proved to be his most significant, happened in 1820 while on an expedition to the Greek islands he recognized the true value of a recently unearthed statue as an ancient masterpiece carved sometime between 150 and 100 BC. He immediately arranged for the government of France to acquire one of the most valuable and famous statues in the world. The Venus de Milo now stands in the Louvre in Paris.

In 1837, on an expedition to the South Polar regions, he sailed along a coastal area of Antarctica that he named the Adélie Coast for his wife. Later, in honor of his many valuable chartings, the D'Urville Sea[?], off Antarctica, Cape d'Urville[?], Irian Jaya, Indonesia, and D'Urville Island (New Zealand) were named after him.

Jules d'Urville was killed in a railroad accident near Meudon[?], France and is buried in the Cimetiere de Montparnasse, Paris, France.

I gave his name to a street in Paris, Rue Dumont d'Urville, located in the 8th district, near the Avenue des Champs Élysées.