Byrd's second Antarctic expedition, spanning 1933 to 1935, used aircraft and advanced radio equipment to survey enormous stretches of previously unmapped territory. The mission expanded American scientific presence on the continent and captured public imagination through radio broadcasts beamed directly from the ice to audiences in the United States.
Byrd's second expedition was a far larger and more scientifically ambitious operation than his famous 1929 flight over the South Pole, involving 56 men, more aircraft, and sophisticated shortwave radio links that let Americans listen to live updates from Antarctica for the first time. The team conducted extensive geological, biological, and meteorological research while mapping thousands of square miles previously blank on the map.
Byrd himself spent a harrowing stretch alone at an advance weather base, nearly dying from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a poorly ventilated stove, an ordeal he later chronicled in his memoir 'Alone.' The expedition's discoveries reshaped scientific understanding of Antarctic geography, revealing that what had been assumed to be a single landmass was in fact bisected by a channel, effectively splitting Antarctica into two main landmasses connected by ice.
Key people: Richard Byrd