Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. Byrd claimed that his expeditions had been the first to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole by air. However, his claim to have reached the North Pole is disputed.
Albert Paddock Crary, was a pioneer polar geophysicist and glaciologist. He was the first person to have stepped foot on both the North and South Poles, having made it to the North Pole on May 3, 1952 and then to the South Pole on February 12, 1961, as the leader of a team of eight. The South Pole expedition set out from McMurdo Station on December 10, 1960, using three Snowcats with trailers. Crary was the seventh expedition leader to arrive at the South Pole by surface transportation. He was widely admired for his intellect, wit, skills and as a great administrator for polar research expeditions.
James Francis Reilly II is an American geologist and a former NASA astronaut. He flew on three space shuttle missions: STS-89, STS-104 and STS-117.
Operation Highjump, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, was a United States Navy operation organized by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr., USN (Ret), Officer in Charge, Task Force 68, and led by Rear Admiral Richard H. Cruzen, USN, Commanding Officer, Task Force 68. Operation Highjump commenced 26 August 1946 and ended in late February 1947. Task Force 68 included 4,700 men, 13 ships, and 33 aircraft. Operation Highjump's primary mission was to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV.
The Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (BPCRC) is a polar, alpine, and climate research center at The Ohio State University founded in 1960.
Little America was a series of Antarctic exploration bases from 1929 to 1958, located on the Ross Ice Shelf, south of the Bay of Whales.
Marie Byrd Land is the portion of West Antarctica lying east of the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and south of the Pacific Ocean, extending eastward approximately to a line between the head of the Ross Ice Shelf and Eights Coast. It stretches between 158°W and 103°24'W. The inclusion of the area between the Rockefeller Plateau and Eights Coast is based upon the leading role of the American Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in the exploration of this area. The name was originally applied by Admiral Byrd in 1929, in honor of his wife, to the northwestern part of the area, the part that was explored in that year.
The Behrendt Mountains is a group of mountains, 32 km long, aligned in the form of a horseshoe with the opening to the southwest, standing 11 km SW of Merrick Mountains at the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. Discovered and photographed from the air by the RARE, 1947-48, under Finn Ronne.
Crary Mountains is a group of ice-covered Antarctic mountains, 56 km (35 mi) long, rising to 3,655 m at Mount Frakes and including Mount Rees, Mount Steere and Boyd Ridge. The mountains are located 80 km (50 mi) SW of Toney Mountain in Marie Byrd Land.
The Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE) was an expedition from 1947–1948 which researched the area surrounding the head of the Weddell Sea in Antarctica.
Mount Anderson is a high mountain in the northern part of the Sentinel Range in Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica. Probuda Ridge is trending northeast of the peak, and Embree Glacier and Ellen Glacier's tributary Fonfon Glacier drain its northeastern and eastern slopes respectively. It is part of the same massif as Mount Bentley and Mount Sisu.
The Byrd Station is a former research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by U.S. Navy Seabees during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica.
Mario Giovinetto is an Argentine glaciologist, climatologist, and geographer. He is a Canadian citizen with permanent resident status in the US.
Mount Bentley is a mountain (4,245 m) standing 2 nautical miles north of Mount Anderson in the main western ridge of the Sentinel Range, Antarctica. It was discovered by the Marie Byrd Land Traverse party, 1957–58, and named for Dr. Charles R. Bentley, leader of the traverse party and chief traverse seismologist at Byrd Station, 1957-59.
Byrd Subglacial Basin is a major subglacial basin of West Antarctica, extending east-west between the Crary Mountains and the Ellsworth Mountains. It is bounded to the south by a low subglacial ridge which separates this feature from Bentley Subglacial Trench. A rude delineation of this subglacial basin was determined by several U.S. seismic parties operating from Byrd Station, Little America V, and Ellsworth Station during the 1950s and 1960s. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (1961) for its locus relative to Marie Byrd Land and Byrd Station.
Mount Viets is a sharp pyramidal mountain over 3,600 m, standing 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) north of Mount Giovinetto in the main ridge of the Sentinel Range, Ellsworth Mountains. It surmounts Delyo Glacier to the east and Burdenis Glacier to the northeast.
Mount Hale is a mountain standing 1.5 mi NW of Mount Davis in the main ridge of the Sentinel Range, Antarctica. Discovered by the Marie Byrd Land Traverse party, 1957–58, under C.R. Bentley, and named for Daniel P. Hale, auroral physicist at Byrd Station and member of the traverse party.
The Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition Medal was established by Act of Congress in 1936 to commemorate the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition.
