Col. Jatinder Kumar (JK) Bajaj, a mechanical engineer and seasoned mountaineer, was the first Indian (and the first Asian) to reach the South Pole. In 1988-89, as part of an eleven member international team, Col Bajaj skied 750 miles (1200 km) over 50 days across an uncharted Antarctic route; and on 17 January 1989, hoisted [...]
Ann Bancroft is an American educator, explorer, environmentalist and leader, who is dedicated to inspiring women and girls to unleash the power of their dreams. She was the first woman to ski to both the North and South Pole and, along with Liv Arnesen, the first women to ski and sail across Antarctica’s landmass. Ann [...]
Fabian von Bellingshausen was a Russian naval officer who led the Russian naval expedition 1819-1921, in search of Terra Australis. His ship was the first to cross the Antarctic circle since Captain Cook in 1773; he circumnavigated Antarctica; and was the first person to sight the Antarctic continent. His orders were to explore as far [...]
Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr., USN was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. He undertook five expeditions to Antarctica and made the first-ever flight over the South Pole on November 28, 1929. Byrd was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for heroism given by the [...]
Apsley Cherry-Garrard was a member of Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova expedition (1910–13). His account of the expedition, The Worst Journey in the World, is a classic and has been acclaimed as the greatest true adventure story ever written. ‘Cherry’ was born a privileged member of the English upper-class. He attended Oxford University, where he [...]
Artur Chilingarov is a Russian polar scientist and esteemed polar explorer, whose extensive career has seen him head up a number of high profile projects and expeditions in both the Arctic and Antarctic, including the first-ever dive to the North Pole ocean floor. Chilingarov began his career as an engineer-oceanographer in the mid-1960’s at the [...]
Thomas “Tom” Crean, nicknamed the “Irish Giant”, was an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer. He was a member of three major expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, including Captain Scott’s 1911–13 Terra Nova Expedition, during which he made a 35 mile (56 km) solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf to [...]
Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery was an officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99 (BAE). The BAE was the first expedition to overwinter within the Antarctic Circle, after the ship was icebound in the Bellingshausen Sea. It collected the first annual cycle of Antarctic observations, [...]
Lincoln Ellsworth (1880-1951) Together with pilot Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, Lincoln Ellsworth discovered the Ellsworth Mountains and completed the first transantarctic flight in history. Introduction to Polar Exploration Ellsworth’s initial exposure to polar adventures began on May 21, 1925, when he, Roald Amundsen and four other men set out in two Dornier flying boats, on an unsuccessful [...]
Edgar Evans was a member of the “Polar Party” in Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole in 1911–1912. This group of five men, personally selected for the final expedition push, attained the Pole on January 17, 1912; but all of them, including Evans, perished as they attempted to return to [...]