Alexander von Tunzelmann

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Alexander Francis Henry von Tunzelmann (15 June 1877 - 19 September 1957) was a New Zealander. On 24 January 1895, he became the first person to set foot on Antarctica, at Cape Adare.

In 1998, the place Tunzelmann landed was officially named Von Tunzelmann Point by the New Zealand government.[1]He was a crew member on the Norwegian whaling ship "Antarctica"

Alexander von Tunzelmann was a member of the von Tunzelmann family, who migrated from Prussia to Estonia where they were members of the Baltic German Ritterschaft or nobility. Two brothers and a sister settled in New Zealand. He was born in Nelson, and died in Invercargill.

The first person to cross the Antarctic circle was Captain James Cook, in 1773.

The point was officially named Von Tunzelmann Point by the New Zealand Geographic Board, but the newspaper reference below and the Registrar-General's index to deaths both spell the name "Tunzelman" with one "N"