Richard E. Byrd

Who is Richard E. Byrd?

Richard Evelyn Byrd was a United States Navy officer, aviator, and polar explorer who led multiple expeditions to Antarctica from the 1920s through the 1950s. In 1929 Byrd commanded the first expedition to fly an aircraft over the South Pole, together with pilot Bernt Balchen, radio operator Harold June, and photographer Ashley McKinley, operating from a base camp called Little America on the Ross Ice Shelf. He led further United States Antarctic expeditions, including a 1934 expedition during which he spent nearly five months alone operating an advanced weather station deep in the Antarctic interior, an experience of extreme isolation and near-fatal carbon monoxide poisoning that he recounted in his memoir Alone (1938). Byrd later organized and helped lead Operation Highjump (1946-1947), a large United States Navy expedition to Antarctica, and Operation Deep Freeze in the 1950s, which supported the establishment of permanent American scientific stations on the continent, including one later named Byrd Station in his honor. His expeditions contributed substantially to the aerial mapping and scientific study of Antarctica in the early twentieth century.

Sources: Richard E. Byrd, Alone (1938) · Richard E. Byrd, Little America (1930)