 After Bruce 's death his long @-@ time friend and colleague Robert Rudmose Brown wrote , in a letter to Bruce 's father : " His name is imperishably enrolled among the world 's great explorers , and the martyrs to unselfish scientific devotion " . Rudmose Brown 's biography was published in 1923 , and in the same year a joint committee of Edinburgh 's learned societies instituted the Bruce Memorial Prize , an award for young polar scientists . Thereafter , although his name continued to be respected in scientific circles , Bruce and his achievements were forgotten by the general public . Occasional mentions of him , in polar histories and biographies of major figures such as Scott and Shackleton , tended to be dismissive and inaccurate . 
