The Race to the South Pole in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration

Roald Amundsen (L) and three members of his team after they planted the Norwegian flag at the South Pole in December 1911. Public Domain

Commentary

The early years of the 20th century were years of astonishing breakthroughs. The first dirigible airship appeared in 1900, and the Wright brothers pioneered engine-powered, heavier-than-air flight in 1903. Marconi sent a radio message across the Atlantic in 1901, and Canadian Reginald Fessenden broadcast the first radio program in 1906. The first decade of the century also saw Max Planck’s quantum theory and Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.