Albert P. Crary

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Albert Paddock Crary (1911 - 1987), was a pioneer polar geophysicist and glaciologist and the first person to set foot on both the North (on May 3, 1952, together with Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict) and South Poles. He reached the South Pole on February 12, 1961 as the leader of a team of eight. They had set out from McMurdo Station on December 10, 1960, using three Snowcats with trailers. Crary was the seventh expedition leader to arrive at the South Pole by surface transportation (the six others before him were—in sequence— Amundsen, Scott, Hillary, Fuchs, a Russian expedition in 1959/60 from Vostok base, and Havola). He was widely admired for his intellect, wit, skills and as a great administrator for polar research expeditions.

Born into a farming family in northern New York state, he was the second oldest in a family of 7 children. He was a Physics major and Geology student at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. He graduated in 1931 Phi Beta Kappa from St. Lawrence University and then went on to Lehigh University for a masters degree in physics. After spending years completing and facilitating research at both poles, Crary eventually settled in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife and their son.

In 1991, the National Science Foundation (NSF), which manages the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP), honoured his memory by dedicating a state-of-the-art laboratory complex in his name, the Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center (CSEC) located in McMurdo Station. He was also honored to have the Crary Mountains (76 degrees 48' S, 117 degrees 40' W) and the Crary Ice Rise in the Antarctic named for him as well.

Dr. Crary contributed in a variety of important ways to his field including:

Chief Scientist for Arctic ice island T3, 1952 - 1955
Established the United States Geological Headquarters for the International Geophysical Year, 1955
Deputy Leader of United States science during the International Geophysical Year, 1957
Leader of the U.S. seismic traverse of Ross Ice Shelf, 1957-58
Leader, geophysical traverse W from Little America V, up Skelton Glacier to the Victoria Land plateau and W along the 78 parallel to c. 13130E, 1958-59
Leader, geophysical traverse from McMurdo Station via Skelton Glacier to the South Pole, 1960-61
Chief Scientist, United States Antarctic Research Program, 1960 - 1968
Deputy then Director, Division of Environmental Sciences, National Science Foundation, 1969 - 1978
Member of ACAN, 1961-76 (Chairman, 1974-76)

He worked with many notable scientists and famous institutions:

Dr. Maurice Ewing of Columbia University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Assisted Dr. James Peoples at MOGUL (Project Mogul) as the Field Operations Director using meteorological balloons to experiment with different types of equipment to collect and transmit sound waves in the upper atmosphere (Roswell, New Mexico Incident- see [1])