On the morning of April 7 , 1909 , illustrious explorer Robert Edwin Peary made story when , after years of exploit and more than a few lose toe , he star through a sextant and determined that he had hand the North Pole . He pen in his diary , “ The Pole at last ! ! ! … I can not bring myself to pull in it . It all seems so round-eyed and commonplace . ”
turn out , it wouldnotbe so elementary . Peary ’s call to be the first man at the North Pole , along with his longtime supporter Matthew Henson and four Indigenous pathfinder , would be challenge for decennium afterward — instance the passion and ambition that the North Pole has plant in the minds of explorers for one C .
The many attempt to reach the North Pole represent the human desire to make sense of mysteries , to lick brain-teaser of geographics and the soul . In iHeartRadio and Mental Floss ’s newest podcast , The Quest for the North Pole , science editor Kat Long takes a abstruse diving into the history of Arctic exploration and examines what pushed explorer to go ever further into the unknown , even as they faced death at every turn — from starvation , pic , disease , and their own fateful choices . If they be , explorers make fame and the admiration of their countrymen . But if they died , their gens became immortal .
In each episode , we ’ll look at the of import expeditions and what they found , as well as the tragedies and triumph of figures like Sir John Franklin , Fridtjof Nansen , Robert Peary , and Matthew Henson . We ’ll also delve into the racial and nationalistic kinetics of exploration , and recognize the many critical roles of autochthonic people , without whom few European adventurers would have exist . And we ’ll learn how the climate crisis is changing the Arctic and frigid geographic expedition today . We speak with historians and adventurers to take you insight into the social setting and psychology behind the subspecies to the Pole .
