S1 • E8 Apr 22, 2020 10m
Louise Arner Boyd (1887-1972), born in San Rafael, CA, was the first American woman to lead Arctic expeditions in the 1920's and 30's. As a self-taught polar scientist and photographer, she mapped previously uncharted regions of Greenland using photometry, filmed and photographed topography, sea ice, glacial features, and land formations, measured ocean depths, and collected plant specimens. A fjord in East Greenland was named "Louise Boyd Land" in her honor, and her photographs of glaciers provide critical information to climate change researchers today. In 1938, Boyd was awarded the Cullum Medal from the American Geographical Society, and in 1955 became the first woman to fly over the North Pole in a plane that she chartered. Interviewees: biographer Durlynn Anema, author of Taming the Arctic: The 20th Century Renown Arctic Explorer Louise Arner Boyd; Lorie Karnath, founder of the Explorer's Museum and former president of the Explorer's Club; climate change scientist Twila Moon, researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
