Robert Edwin Peary, American Explorer
Peary, on deck of the steamship, Roosevelt, in fur parka, with binoculars. Robert Edwin Peary, Sr. (May 6, 1856 - February 20, 1920) was an American explorer. He studied Inuit survival techniques, built igloos, and dressed in practical furs both for heat preservation and to dispense with the extra weight of tents and sleeping bags. He relied on the Inuit as hunters and dog-drivers on his expeditions, and pioneered the use of the system of using support teams and supply caches for Arctic travel. In his diary for April 7, Peary wrote: "The Pole at last!!! The prize of three centuries, my dream and ambition for twenty-three years. Mine at last." Peary was unable to enjoy the fruits of his labors to the full extent when, upon returning to civilization, he learned that Frederick Cook, who had been a surgeon on an 1891-1892 Peary expedition, claimed to have reached the pole the year before. Despite investigations into the claims (both at the time and since) neither can be unquestionably proven. Peary was given a Rear Admiral's pension and the Thanks of Congress by a special act in 1911. He died in 1920 at the age of 63, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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