Douglas Mawson
Geologist and Antarctic Explorer · 1882–1958
Who is Douglas Mawson?
Douglas Mawson was an Australian geologist and polar explorer who became one of the most celebrated figures of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in England and raised in Australia, he took part in Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition (1907-1909) before leading his own Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914), which mapped a vast stretch of previously unexplored coastline and established a base at Cape Denison, later measured as one of the windiest places on Earth. During a sledging journey in the summer of 1912-1913, Mawson's two companions, Belgrave Ninnis and Xavier Mertz, both died — Ninnis in a crevasse fall that took most of the party's food and dogs, and Mertz from exhaustion and probable vitamin A poisoning from eating dog liver. Mawson then endured an extraordinary solo trek of roughly one hundred miles back to base, surviving falls into crevasses and severe malnutrition, arriving just as his ship was departing and forcing him to spend another winter in Antarctica. He later led further scientific expeditions (BANZARE, 1929-1931) and was knighted for his contributions to Antarctic science, recounting his ordeal in The Home of the Blizzard (1915).
Sources: Douglas Mawson, The Home of the Blizzard (1915) · Australian Antarctic Program, official expedition history