Rear Admiral Robert Edwin Peary
Robert Edmin Peary (6 May 1856 - 20 February 1920), American polar explorer, claimed to have been first to reach the geographic North Pole (on 6 April 1909). A lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, Peary was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1911 on the strength of his claimed achievement. The validity of his claim was never clearly established. No trained navigator accompanied him on the final stage of his journey. The times, distances and speeds given are suspect, and key aspects of Peary's account are contradicted by the account of Matthew Henson who accompanied him. Another explorer, Frederick Cook, claimed to have reached the pole the previous year; his claim was yet more suspect than that of Peary. The controversy aroused by these incidents influenced Roald Amundsen to take considerable precautions in navigation on his South Pole expedition in 1911.
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