Finn Ronne

Finn Ronne, also known by its Norwegian name Finn Ronne, ( born December 20 1899 in Horten, Norway, † January 12, 1980 in Bethesda, Maryland) was an American Antarctic explorer of Norwegian descent.

Life

Finn Ronne is the son of Martin Rønne (1861-1932), who has served as a sailmaker and navigator aboard the expedition ship Fram Roald Amundsen on his successful expedition to the South Pole in December 1911. He attended the College in Horten, where he graduated as an engineer.

In 1923, Finn Ronne emigrated to the USA and he was a U.S. citizen in 1929. Here he worked for several years at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation and then accompanied Richard Byrd on two of his Antarctic expeditions until he explored in 1939 as Byrd 's right hand together with it more than 1,000 miles of new Antarctic coast.

After a few years in the United States Navy Ronne returned with support from the American Geographical Society in the 1940s in the Antarctic back. He charted on two expeditions in 1946 and 1948, the coast of the Weddell Sea. He completed a total of more than 3,600 miles on skis and by dog sled, significantly more than any other Arctic explorer before. His wife Edith Ronne, also polar explorer, accompanied him on his expeditions, where she worked as a research assistant and rapporteur. Thus it was, together with the wife of the chief pilot, Jennie Darlington, the first woman who stayed in the Antarctic.

In the Operation Deep Freeze, in which the entire Antarctic should be mapped, Finn Ronne was used as a scientific and military leader of a base station at the Weddell Sea.

Finn Ronne was the author of several books and scientific publications about the Antarctic. For his work he received from the U.S. government three Medals of Honor and numerous military awards. Finn Ronne died in 1980 in Bethesda, Maryland and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.