Born Oct. 31, 1888, in Mount Bryan East, South Australia; died Dec. 1,1958, in Framingham, Mass. American polar explorer.

Wilkins took part as a photographer in V. Stefansson’s expedition in arctic Canada between 1913 and 1917. In 1920–21 and 1921–22 he joined two British expeditions to explore the antarctic. Later, in 1927 and 1928, he flew over the central arctic with C. Eielson, who served as pilot. Wilkins also made a series of flights over Western Antarctica in late 1928, during the summer of 1929, and in 1930. In 1931, after trying unsuccessfully to reach the north pole by traveling underneath the ice in the submarine Nautilus, Wilkins made his way through the ice to 81° 59’ N lat. From 1933 to 1939 he took part in L. Ellsworth’s expeditions on the shores of Antarctica. In 1937 and 1938 he also participated in the search for S. A. Levanevskii’s expedition, which disappeared in the central arctic in 1937 and 1938.

Named in honor of Wilkins are the ice shelf in Antarctica between Aleksandr I Land and Charcot Island and the gulf between the two Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

WORKS

REFERENCES