Great Controversy Who Discovered the North Pole Part 5 Conclusion

About the controversy over who really discovered the North Pole, conclusion and the case for Richard Byrd.

GREAT CONTROVERSIES

WHO REALLY DISCOVERED THE NORTH POLE?

FOOTNOTE CASE FOR RICHARD BYRD

Since the validity of both Cook's and Peary's claims is questionable, some historians propose that another American, Richard Byrd, first discovered the North Pole. In 1926 Byrd shipped his three-engined German Fokker to Spitsbergen Island in the Arctic Ocean. From there, he took off on may 9 and nine hours later flew his plane over the North Pole, returning to Spitsbergen the same day. Using instruments not yet invented in Cook's and Peary's time, Byrd claimed that he had reached the North Pole, although anti-Byrd literature has disputed his claim. The Russian, Otto Schmidt, may have been the first to set foot at the Pole in 1936, after having set up a scientific observation station. However, a four-man snowmobile expedition led by American Ralph Plaisted achieved the first uncontested surface attainment of the North Pole on Apr. 18, 1968.