Explorers

Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard.

Great Explorers: Auguste Piccard

There are explorers who plumb great depths: Bob Ballard,...
September 14, 2024
Illustration of Benjamin of Tudela.

Great Explorers: Benjamin of Tudela

Before Marco Polo and the great medieval travelers, a...
September 7, 2024
a composite image of a bearded man in 19th century dress and a jungle

Great Explorers: Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay

In the 19th century, biology, physics, chemistry, archaeology, geology,...
August 15, 2024
Gino Watkins sitting in a kayak

Great Explorers: Gino Watkins

The annals of polar exploration are filled with luminaries...
July 5, 2024
an illustration of trapper and scout Old Bill Williams

Great Explorers: Old Bill Williams

The humans who cast their eyes to far horizons...
June 26, 2024
Jim Bridger superimposed over a geyser

Great Explorers: Jim Bridger

Here's a recipe. Take one part larger-than-life figure, add...
June 17, 2024
Drawing of John C. Fremont.

Great Explorers: John C. Fremont

Skilled explorer or overreaching dilettante? Crusading abolitionist or violent...
May 9, 2024
gray-haired pilot in flight suit with aircraft

Pilot Dick Rutan, First to Fly Around Earth Without Refueling, Dies at 85

Famed pilot Richard “Dick” Rutan has died. Rutan earned...
May 7, 2024
painting showing the fall of the Alamo

Great Explorers: Davy Crockett

“Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier…Davy, Davy...
April 29, 2024
an illustration of David Douglas

Great Explorers: David Douglas, the Accident-Prone Botanist

If you’ve bought a Christmas tree in the last...
April 22, 2024
front and backside of a weathered medal

UK Bans Export of Final Shackleton Medal

Sir Ernest Shackleton is one of the most heavily...
April 4, 2024
two mountaineers

Legendary Mt. Rainier Guide Lou Whittaker Dies at 95

A Mount Rainier icon has lapsed into the alpenglow. The...
March 28, 2024
illustration of Zheng Yi Sao

Great Explorers: Zheng Yi Sao

In the early 1800s, Zheng Yi Sao was the...
March 22, 2024
a man looking into the viewfinder of a video camera

Nat Geo’s ‘Photographer’ Series Reveals How Pros Work

Typically, a photographer’s objective is to use an image...
March 20, 2024
headshot of a middle aged white man

Famed Everest Documentarian David Breashears Dies at 68

The mountaineering community has lost a luminary. David Breashears died...
March 15, 2024
painting of Stewart and Indians

Great Explorers: William Drummond Stewart

William Drummond Stewart did not conquer lands of the...
March 6, 2024
portrait of de Rozier

Great Explorers: Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier

A driven daredevil, Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier traded...
February 27, 2024
The Endurance listing hard to port, trapped in ice

Weekend Warm-Up: Restored Footage Shows Shackleton’s Ship in its Icy Death Throes

Is it just me, or is it physically possible...
February 24, 2024
writer

Great Explorers: Antoine de Saint Exupery

"The airplane has unveiled for us the true face...
February 23, 2024
sled dog teams with a running man

Weekend Warm-Up: Alfred Wegener’s Iron Arctic Will

Alfred Wegener’s 1930 expedition to Greenland was a monster....
February 17, 2024
portrait

Great Explorers: Ibn Battuta

Not long after Marco Polo traveled further than anyone...
February 7, 2024
portrait

Great Explorers: Annette Budgett Meakin

In the 1900s, a woman traveling alone was unheard...
February 5, 2024
La Pérouse and King Louis XVI.

Exploration Mysteries: Jean Francois de Galaup

The mutiny on HMS Bounty overshadowed an even stranger...
January 23, 2024
plaque to thomas george street

The Radford and Street Disaster: Death of a Good Man

A while back, I was gazing at a bronze...
January 15, 2024

Sign up for ExplorersWeb Emails