Emil Bessels

Emil Bessels
Bessels in 1880
Born	(1847-06-02)2 June 1847 Heidelberg, Grand Duchy of Baden
Died	30 March 1888(1888-03-30) (aged 40) Stuttgart, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire
Alma mater	University of Heidelberg University of Jena University of Stuttgart
Scientific career
Fields	Medicine, entomology, zoology
Institutions	Natural Sciences Museum Smithsonian Institution
Expeditions	German Polar expedition Polaris expedition

Emil Bessels (2 June 1847 – 30 March 1888) was a German zoologist, entomologist, physician, and Arctic researcher who is best known for his controversial role in the attempted but ill-fated Polaris expedition to the North Pole in 1871. Circumstantial evidence strongly points to Bessels as the most likely suspect in the death of the expedition's commander, American explorer Charles Francis Hall, by arsenic poisoning.

Bessels spent much of his scientific career at the Smithsonian Institution.