Part XIV The International Geophysical Year

Following Shackleton’s death in 1922 which marked the end of the Heroic Age in Antarctic history, no major expedition occurred to Antarctica until 1928 when a naval aviator, Richard Byrd, ventured south with ambitions to be the first person to fly over the south pole. In this podcast, I provide the history of Byrd's expedition and his research station Little America on the Ross Ice Shelf. In addition, I discuss the territorial claims that were being made for parts of the Antarctic continent by that time and the events leading up to the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958 when Antarctica became the focus of research with 40 stations established there by 12 nations. The IGY became a turning point in Antarctic history leading to the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959.