Antarctic Item 026

Antarctic Item 026 may be as old as the outpost that housed it. The 12-inch length of bunched wire comes from Marble Point station, established by U.S. military forces in 1956 to facilitate the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year. The IGY was a multinational endeavor to coordinate the collection of geophysical data from around the world. It revived scientific interchange between East and West, initiated a new era of scientific discovery around developing technologies, and lay the foundation for many of today's polar programs and international collaborations. At Marble Point in 1957, this wire would have seen the construction of Antarctica's first ground air strip (as opposed to ice/snow runways) and its first wheels-on-dirt landing. Or perhaps it arrived on that plane. If so, it was in the company of famed explorer Sir Edmund Hillary, photographed here on his arrival at Marble Point by surveyor Bill McTigue. Hillary went on to reach the South Pole in 1958 as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition for which he led the New Zealand section. Hillary's party was the first to reach the Pole overland since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912, and the first ever to do so using motor vehicles.