Nathaniel Brown Palmer (1799 – 1877) Nathaniel B. Palmer was an American seal hunter, explorer, sailing captain, and ship designer, after whom Palmer Land, a stretch of western Antarctic coast and islands, is named. Sealing and Antarctic Discoveries Young Nat played in his father's Stonington, CT shipyard, went to sea…

Herbert George Ponting, FRGS (March 21, 1870 – February 7, 1935) Herbert Ponting was a professional photographer and pioneer of modern polar photography. He is best known as the expedition photographer and cinematographer for Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova Expedition to the Ross Sea and South Pole (1910–1913). In this…

SIR JAMES CLARK ROSS (1800-1862) Sir James Clark Ross was a British naval officer who carried out important magnetic surveys in the Arctic and Antarctic and who discovered the Ross Sea and the Victoria Land region of Antarctica. Early Life and Arctic Voyages Ross joined the navy at age 11…

Nobu Shirase (1861-1946) Nobu Shirase was inspired by the tales of Franklin's search for the Northwest Passage and had a life-long passion for polar exploration. He hoped to be first to the North Pole, but his plans were de-railed by Cook's and Peary's announcements in 1909, causing him, like Amundsen,…

HARALD ULRIK SVERDRUP (1888-1957) Harald Sverdrup was a Norwegian oceanographer, meteorologist and arctic explorer. He is widely recognized as the founder of the modern school of physical oceanography; was the chief scientist on Amundsen’s 1918-25 Arctic Expedition; and was the first head of the Norwegian Polar Institute. Early Life and…