Russian explorer who led the second expedition to circumnavigate Antarctica (1819–21) and for whom was named the Bellingshausen Sea, an area of the Antarctic waters.

Bellingshausen entered the Russian navy at age 10 and was an admiral and the governor of Kronshtadt at the time of his death.

Commanding the Vostok and Mirny, sloops of about 500 tons each, on his Antarctic voyage, he discovered Peter I (Jan. 22, 1821) and Alexander I (January 29) islands in the South Sandwich Island group. These were the first sightings of land within the Antarctic Circle, thought at first to be part of the mainland. His account of the voyage was translated into English in 1945.