Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records.
The Antarctica Service Medal (ASM) was established by the United States Congress on July 7, 1960, under Public Law 600 of the 86th Congress. The medal was intended as a military award to replace several commemorative awards which had been issued for previous Antarctica expeditions from 1928 to 1941. With the creation of the Antarctica Service Medal, the following commemorative medals were declared obsolete;
Lieutenant Colonel Eric Marshall was a British Army doctor and Antarctic explorer with the Nimrod Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton in 1907–09, and was one of the party of four men who reached Furthest South at 88°23′S162°00′E on 9 January 1909.
James William Slessor Marr was a Scottish marine biologist and polar explorer. He was leader of the World War 2 British Antarctic Expedition Operation Tabarin during its first year, 1943–1945.
The Atlantic Star is a military campaign medal, instituted by the United Kingdom in May 1945 for award to British Commonwealth forces who took part in the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous campaign of the Second World War.
Jens Tryggve Herman Gran was a Norwegian aviator, polar explorer and author.
Virginia Frances, Lady Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, known as Ginny Fiennes, was an English explorer. She was the first woman to be awarded the Polar Medal, and the first woman to be voted in to join the Antarctic Club in recognition of her research work for the British Antarctic Survey and University of Sheffield into very low frequency radio propagation. Her husband was adventurer Ranulph Fiennes.
Professor Dame Jane Elizabeth Francis, is the Director of the British Antarctic Survey. She previously worked as Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds where she also was Dean of the Faculty of Environment. In 2002 she was the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal for outstanding contribution to British polar research. She is currently the Chancellor of the University of Leeds.
John Riddoch Rymill was an Australian polar explorer, who had the rare second clasp added to his Polar Medal.
Walter Campbell Smith CBE MC TD, later formally Campbell-Smith, was a British mineralogist and petrologist. He was awarded the Murchison Medal in 1945, and was president of the Geological Society of London from 1955 to 1956.
Felicity Ann Dawn Aston is a British explorer, author and climate scientist.
Sir Joseph Holmes Miller was a notable New Zealand surveyor, Antarctic explorer and conservationist. He was born in Waimate, New Zealand, on 12 February 1919.
The Arctic Star is a military campaign medal instituted by the United Kingdom on 19 December 2012 for award to British Commonwealth forces who served on the Arctic Convoys north of the Arctic Circle, during the Second World War.
Surgeon Captain Edward W. Bingham, was a British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer who had the rare third clasp added to his Polar Medal.
Colonel Sir George Murray Home Stirling, 9th Baronet CBE DSO was a Scottish British Army officer who was Lord Lieutenant of Stirlingshire from 1936 until 1949.
Elke Mackenzie, born Ivan Mackenzie Lamb, was a British polar explorer and botanist who specialised in the field of lichenology. Beginning her education in Edinburgh, Scotland, Mackenzie later pursued botany at Edinburgh University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1933 and a Doctor of Science in 1942. In the two years she was involved in Operation Tabarin, a covert World War II mission to Antarctica, she identified and documented many lichen species, several of them previously unknown to science.
The 1990 Special Honours in New Zealand were three special honours lists: the first was dated 6 February 1990 and made appointments to the Order of New Zealand and the Queen's Service Order; the second was dated 17 May 1990 made awards of the Polar Medal; and the third was dated 27 November 1990, to recognise the incoming governor-general, Dame Catherine Tizard.
Mike Pinnock is a British scientist in the field of polar research and was one of the longest serving managers of the British Antarctic Survey until his retirement in 2018. He is currently a BAS Emeritus Fellow which invites select former employees to continue to develop their scientific and scholarly work through a continued relationship with the organisation. He is a treasurer and board member for Antarctic Science Journal. He has published 76 papers, mostly on the topic of solar wind coupling to the Earth's magnetosphere.
