Ellsworth, Lincoln
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Lincoln Ellsworth (1880-1951) was born on May 12, 1880, in Chicago, Illinois. He studied both at Yale and Columbia University. After college he was a surveyor for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad. His true passion, however, was exploration. In 1925, he participated in his first Arctic expedition, which was to travel to the North Pole. It was the Amundsen-Ellsworth expedition, which only lasted 25 days although they never reached the North Pole. A year later, he tried the expedition to the North Pole again and finally reached it on May 12, 1926. He wanted to be the first to reach the North Pole, but the U.S. Navy beat him by three days. By the end of his career he traveled to Antarctica. On November 23, 1935, he successfully made his trans-Antarctic flight, becoming the first man to fly across Antarctica. On May 29, 1929, before he made his trans-Antarctic flight, he was honored the Congressional Gold Medal for his North Pole expedition. He died in New York City on May 26, 1951.
1880
1951
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