12th May, 1880 was born American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth

On the 12th of May, 1880 in Chicago was born Lincoln Ellsworth, aviator, polar explorer. It was a wealthy man, who inherited from his father not only a huge fortune, but also coal mines. However, instead of a comfortable office, he chose the path of geographer and explorer.

In 1917 Ellsworth helped Roald Amundsen in arranging the trip on the Northern Sea Route on the expedition ship "Maud", but did not become a member.

In 1924 he led a geological expedition in the Peruvian Andes. Tracing the route on the map, you can see that when doing research Ellsworth produced a cut from the Pacific Ocean to the headwaters of the Amazon.

In 1925 Ellsworth sponsored and participated in the expedition of Roald Amundsen, the main aim of which was a flight over the North Pole. Two sea airplanes took part in the expedition, the budget of which amounted to $100 000. But then they did not succeed: it was necessary to make a landing on the ice at 150 km from the North Pole and one plane crashed. To survive, the two crews had to fly to the surviving seaplane. Amundsen, Ellsworth and four other members of the expedition using sapper shovels, ax and circ for 24 days cleared the runway and safely returned.

An interesting fact is that all the time, when they prepared takeoff runway, the crew members were forced to spend six nights in a small seaplane. The point is that in severe weather conditions metal zipper on the tent did not fulfill its function. In the next half-century Arctic explorers had to lace tent until it was invented plastic zipper.

In 1926 Ellsworth participated in flight over the North Pole in an airship «Norge». Travel map shows the route that ran through the Arctic Ocean from Svalbard to Alaska. On May 12, they flew over the pole at a height of 600 m. On this day, Ellsworth threw two flags on a pole - the United States and Norway. After this expedition, Visting and Amundsen became the first people in the history who visited both poles of the globe.

In the period from 1933 to 1939 Ellsworth financed and participated in four expeditions to Antarctica. After a few flights to the continent, he decided to cross Antarctica by air. And he was able to realize his plan, which was possible thanks to the navigation skills of the crew, careful preparation, and of course, good luck.

In 1935 Ellsworth went on an expedition that brought him fame. Geographic map allows us to trace the route that ran from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. Thus, Ellsworth made the first transatlantic flight (a flight of about 20 hours) across Antarctica and opened a chain of mountains that are part of the Transantarctic Mountains. In his diary he wrote "we saw the mountains, some of which seem to run into the sky." Topographic map shows that this mountain range is named after its discoverer. Also on the topographic maps of Antarctica one can find subglacial Lake named Ellsworth.