Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T00:23:03.025Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Unlikely heroes: the story of the first men who stood at the North Pole

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Christopher Pala
Christopher Pala
Affiliation:
31 rue du Marteau, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The slow-motion collapse of the claim of Robert E. Peary to have discovered the North Pole raises the question: if Peary was not the first man to stand at the North Pole, who was? The answer appears to be the 24 members of a then-secret Soviet expedition who landed three airplanes on the Earth's axis in April 1948. They were able to make scientific observations during their three-day stay while battling cracking ice. This paper includes interviews with Pavel Senko, who believes he may be the only surviving member of the expedition.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 35 , Issue 195 , October 1999 , pp. 337 - 342
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, W.H. 1959. Nautilus 90° north. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books.Google Scholar
Berton, P. 1988. The Arctic grail. New York: Viking Penguin.Google Scholar
Brontman, L. 1938. On top of the world. London: Victor Gollancz.Google Scholar
Bryce, R.M. 1997. Cook and Peary: the polar controversy, resolved. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.Google Scholar
Conefrey, M., and Jordan, T.. 1998. Icemen: a history of the Arctic and its explorers. London: Boxtree-Macmillan.Google Scholar
Davies, T.D. 1990. New evidence places Peary at the Pole. National Geographical 177 (1): 44–60.Google Scholar
Goerler, R. 1998. To the Pole. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press.Google Scholar
Hall, T.F. 1917. Has the North Pole been discovered? Boston: Richard G. Badger.Google Scholar
Herbert, W. 1989. Noose of laurels. London: Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
Leary, W.M., and LeShack, L.. 1996. Project Coldfeet: secret mission to a Soviet ice station. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.Google Scholar
Montague, R. 1971. Oceans, poles and airmen. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Morozov, S. 1956. U paslednyx parallelei [To the last parallel]. Moscow: Progress.Google Scholar
Nansen, F. 1897. Farthest north. London: Archibald Constable and Company.Google Scholar
National Geographic. Dispatches from the Arctic Ocean. 1996. National Geographic 189 (1): 78–89.Google Scholar
Papanin, I. 1948. Sur la banquise en dérive. Paris: Albin Michel.Google Scholar
Peary, R.E. 1910. The North Pole: its discovery in 1909 under the auspices of the Peary Arctic Club. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company.Google Scholar
Rawlins, D. 1973. Peary at the North Pole: fact or fiction. Washington, DC: Robert B. Luce.Google Scholar
Riffenburgh, B. 1993. The myth of the explorer: the press, sensationalism, and geographical discovery. London: Belhaven Press; New York: St Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Romanov, I.P., Konstantinov, Yu. B., and Kornilov, N.A.. 1997. Dreifuyushiye stantsii ‘Severnyy Polyus’ (1937–1991 gg) [Drifting station ‘Severnyy Polyus’ (1937–1991)]. St Petersburg: Gidrometeoizdat.Google Scholar
Ward, H. 1934. Peary did not reach the Pole. The American Mercury 33 (129): 41–48.Google Scholar