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Maria Klenova Antarctic HistoryPolar Explorers

Maria Klenova

Maria Vasilyevna Klenova (1898 – 1976) Maria Klenova was a Russian and Soviet marine geologist and one of the founders of Russian marine science. Klenova spent nearly 30 years researching the polar regions. She was the first woman scientist to do research in Antarctica and was a contributor to the…
August 28, 2010
Captain C.A. Larsen Polar Explorers

Captain C.A. Larsen

CARL ANTON LARSEN (1860 – 1924) Carl Anton Larsen was a whaling pioneer, ship's captain and inadvertent scientist. He is known for discovering the Larsen Ice Shelf and other features on the Graham Land Coast, as well as for the whaling station he built at Grytviken, South Georgia. Early Life Carl…
August 28, 2010
Mikhail Lazarev Polar Explorers

Mikhail Lazarev

MIKHAIL LAZAREV (1788 – 1851) Mikhail Lazarev was a Russian naval officer and explorer. Lazarev took part in the discovery of Antarctica and numerous islands, as a commander of the ship Mirnyi and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen's deputy, on the 1819–1821 Russian naval expedition. The expedition circumnavigated Antarctica; was the…
August 28, 2010
Dr. Alexander Macklin Polar Explorers

Dr. Alexander Macklin

DR ALEXANDER HEPBURNE MACKLIN (1889 –1967) Dr. Alexander Macklin was one of two surgeons on Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic (Endurance) Expedition 1914-1917. He also joined Shackleton on his final expedition aboard the Quest from 1921-22. Early Life Alexander Macklin was born in India, where his father was a doctor. The…
August 28, 2010
Sir Douglas Mawson Polar Explorers

Sir Douglas Mawson

SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON (1882–1928) Douglas Mawson is one of Australia’s best-known Antarctic explorers. Born in England but raised in Australia, he gained degrees in mining engineering and geology and became a lecturer in minerology and petrology at the University of Adelaide in 1906. He explored particularly hostile regions of East…
August 28, 2010
Xavier Mertz Polar Explorers

Xavier Mertz

Xavier Mertz (1882 – 1913) Xavier Mertz was a Swiss explorer from Basel. He took part in the Far Eastern Party, a 1912–13 sledging journey of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE), which claimed his life. The Mertz Glacier is named after him. As a young man, Mertz studied law and…
August 28, 2010
Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz Polar Explorers

Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz

Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz (1885-1966) Chester William Nimitz, Sr. was a fleet admiral of the United States Navy. As Chief of Naval Operations 1945-47, Nimitz was instrumental in the approval and deployment of the Operation Highjump, the largest Antarctic expedition ever organized. Naval Career and World War II Nimitz was…
August 28, 2010