1961 : The Adventure Begins…
In 1961, Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to fly in space, Freedom Riders took buses into the South to bravely challenge segregation, and East Germany began construction of the Berlin Wall.
On a much smaller stage, Peter was near the end of his collegiate football career at George Washington University and looking toward the future when a chance encounter changed the course of his personal journey…
A missed test and an unexpected opportunity
On a spring Saturday morning, as his college experience drew to a close, Peter found himself on the 4th floor of Monroe Hall at George Washington University for a Psychology make up exam. As luck would have it, the only other person wandering the halls at 9am was another student named William Smith who had accompanied the Victoria Land Traverse party of the United States Antarctic Research Program during its 1959-60 summer expedition. The two struck up a conversation about William’s adventures in Antarctica and another pathway opened for Peter as he listened to tales of the frozen continent at the bottom of the world…
A chance meeting provides inspiration
William M. Smith was a student and research scientist in the GWU Department of Psychology. His focus was investigating mental and emotional health of individuals in small, isolated groups and he accompanied the Victoria Land Traverse party of the United States Antarctic Research Program during its 1959-60 summer expedition.
Having just returned from this expedition – his first hand accounts of Antarctica provided the initial inspirational spark for Peter that would help to guide the rest of his life.
Little did he know it at the time but Antarctica and it’s bubbly blue ice…
A story needs characters
After that chance meeting with Bill Smith at Monroe Hall Peter signed on to be magnetic observer on the University of Wisconsin Antarctic Peninsula Traverse (APT) in the Summer of 1961. Thus the trajectory of Peter’s path was set.
Old Byrd Station
After arriving on the ice he had to calibrate a magnetometer at Old Byrd station located at 80 south and 120 west. Peter would be among the last visitors to Old Byrd in 1961 as the collapsing station (slowly being crushed by tons of snow and shifting ice) was to be replaced with New Byrd (an alternate location with a more robust structure) in the summer.
Journal article provides the spark
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Takeshi Nagata’s work inspires a Japan connection
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Tony Gow introduces the thin section
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The hidden colors of Antarctic blue ice are revealed
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