Amundsen—his name may not be as well known as Magellan or Columbus, but his legacy of discovery is quite noteworthy.  Roald Amundsen, a Norway native, was first to set foot on the South Pole.  He and his Norwegian crew arrived at the South Pole on December 14^th, 1911.  One hundred years later, IceCube celebrates what Amundsen’s voyage means for current scientific research at the South Pole.

Amundsen’s original plan was to be the first to set foot at the North Pole.  Upon hearing news in 1909 that American explorers Frederick Cook and Robert E. Peary had already reached the top of the world, Amundsen made the decision to focus his efforts on a South Pole voyage.

Amundsen and his crew traveled to Antarctica via Fram, a ship used by another Norwegian explorer, Fridtjof Nansen, in previous Arctic and Antarctic expeditions.  Meaning “forward” in English, the ship has sailed farther north and farther south than any other wooden ship.  Amundsen and his five-man crew set sail for Antarctica on October 19th, 1911 and placed the Norwegian flag at the South Pole two months later.

Fram is preserved in The Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway.

The race was on.  At the same time Amundsen was gathering supplies, funds and crew members for his journey, British explorer Robert Falcon Scott also made plans to lead an expedition to the South Pole.  In early January of 1912, Scott arrived at the Pole and made a startling discovery—Amundsen got there first.

Scott and his defeated party began their return journey on January 19^th, 1912.  Scott’s infamous journey back home quickly overshadowed Amundsen’s race triumph.  The Terra Nova 6 Expedition ended by spring of 1912 when Scott and his five comrades were defeated by severe snowstorms, hunger, exhaustion and frostbite.  The voyages and tragic deaths of the Terra Nova 6 crew have been documented in several books and movies.

Amundsen’s crew is said to have survived the voyage to and from the South Pole by using several sled dogs for transport.  The expedition members also used honed cross-country ski skills to their advantage.

There is no doubt that Amundsen’s voyage to the South Pole was an important achievement for Norway.  The arrival catalyzed several decades of scientific discovery at the South Pole.  While the harsh conditions at the pole may not be suitable for normal human habitation, the extremely cold, dry air is perfect for scientific study and observation of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation left over by the Big Bang.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) operates three year-round stations in Antarctica.  The original Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was established in 1957.  An updated station was dedicated in 2008.  The new Amundsen-Scott station includes an adjustable elevation design to prevent the station from being buried in snow.  The other Antarctic NSF stations include McMurdo Station on Ross Island and Palmer Station on Anvers Island.  The NSF also made it possible for IceCube to construct its neutrino observatory about 1.25 kilometers from the South Pole Station.

This year marks the one hundred year anniversary of Amundsen’s arrival at the South Pole.  Join us over the next few weeks as IceCube celebrates a century of discovery at the South Pole.  Like IceCube on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more details about Amundsen’s journey, South Pole facts, and scientific discovery at the bottom of the Earth.