Boyd Louise Arner

(16.09.1887 - 09.09.1972)

Famous American researcher and traveler, a member of the American Geographical Society. For the study of the Arctic and Greenland received the nickname "Queen of Ice" and "Lady Arctic". Discovered America and the entire Western world of the beauty of Polesie, especially Pinsk Polesie.

Born to a rich family in the city of San Rafael in California. The father of the future traveler owned a gold mine. In addition to Louise, the family had two older brothers who died in their youth due to heart disease. Soon the father and mother died, so in 1919, at the age of 33, Louise Arner Boyd became the owner of a multi-million dollar fortune, one of the richest women in America.

From her youth, Louise had an extraordinary, impulsive character. After leaving the United States in 1918, Boyd went to Europe and Egypt to deal with the epidemic of Spaniard, a dangerous disease of the 20th century that killed about 100 million people, as a nurse.

In 1924, Louise Arner Boyd first saw the polar ice in the Svalbard archipelago. The beginning explorer was interested in the endless ice, and she organized the first expedition to the Arctic.

In 1926, Boyd again set out to conquer the Arctic, having chartered a Norwegian ship, the Hobby. During the second expedition, she shot the film (21 thousand feet of film) and took 700 photographs.

In 1928, the Norwegian government awarded Louise Boyd the cross of St. Olaf. She became the third woman in the world to receive such a high award. Such a gesture of Norway - thanks to Louise Boyd for a six-month search in the Barents Sea Rual Amundsen. The famous polar explorer of the first half of the 20th century, Roald Amundsen, crashed in the Barents Sea when he went to search for the Italian aeronaut Umberto Nobile. Attempts by American women to find their colleagues in distress turned out to be in vain, but the fact itself forced the scientific community to treat the extraordinary US citizen differently. Traveler found respect and authority.

In the 1930s, Boyd led a series of expeditions to the east and north coast of Greenland.

In August 1934, after participating in the International Geographical Congress in Warsaw, Louise went on a three-month trip to Polish villages to study customs, clothing, economics and culture of Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Lithuanians. The journey by car, by rail, by boat and on foot started from Lviv and passed along the route Kovel-Kobrin - Pinsk - Kletsk - Nesvizh - Slonim-Vilna. Her travel story was supplemented by more than 500 photographs and published by the American Geographical Society in 1937.

During World War II, Boyd received a special assignment from the US government. The researcher had to study in detail the magnetic field of the North Pole, as the Europe-USA international radio communications sessions passed through this region of the Earth, and very often interference occurred. Boyd understood the problem and prepared a report about the possibility of arranging a military airfield on Baffin Land.

In 1955, despite international recognition of merit and advanced age, Louise Boyd took a risky flight on a Douglas DC-4 aircraft. The airliner, after spending 16 hours in the air, reached the North Pole and returned to Norway. So, the 67-year-old American traveler became the first woman to visit the North Pole.

The legendary traveler has put all her gigantic savings into science. She proved to the world that money can serve good and man.

Died in San Francisco. The body was cremated, and the ash, according to her will, was scattered over the ice fields of Alaska.

Territory (Louise Boyd Land) in eastern Greenland.

Mountain on the peninsula of Bergstrem in the north of the island of Northeastern Land, Svalbard. The coordinates are 80° 19.0'N   24° 49.0'E.