Rear Admiral
Richard Evelyn Byrd (
October 25,
1888 -
March 11,
1957) was one of the most important explorers of
Antarctica, the first to fly over the
South Pole, and an influential figure in the establishment of US bases in Antarctica. However, on Byrd and
Floyd Bennett[?] claimed to have flown over the
North Pole on
May 9,
1926 but the later discovery of his diary seemed to indicate that this did not happen.