Sittin' on Top of the World

A century after humans first reach the North Pole, a celebration of scientific discovery

On April 6, 1909, American explorer Matthew Henson became the first human ever known to stand at the North Pole. "It'll work," said Henson, "if God, wind, leads, ice, snow and all the hells of this damned frozen land are willing." He was a member of the famed expedition led by Admiral Robert E. Peary.

"I think I'm the first man to sit on top of the world," Henson said. Though Adm. Peary received many honors, Henson slipped into obscurity, working as a federal customs clerk in New York for most of the next three decades. He died in the Bronx in 1955, but not before Presidents Truman and Eisenhower honored him for his achievement.

Earlier this month, exactly 100 years later to the day, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) together hosted a celebration in Washington, D.C., of the research accomplishments of the International Polar Year (IPY), an expansive scientific program dedicated to studying the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009.

Scientists expect that IPY-funded research can be expected to be published for years to come.

The celebration included a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the landmark Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), which demarcates Antarctica as a continent meant only for scientific research and peaceful uses.

Now that's pretty cool.

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• Sign the Greenpeace petition urging Secretary Salazar to undo the Bush changes to the Endangered Species Act to help protect the polar bear and its habitat
  
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image: Matthew Henson, United States Library of Congress