Stefansson at Eighty

During this century our heroes have come in bunches. First there were the polar explorers. Then came the pioneer aviators. Soon we will be tense with excitement as the first travelers venture into space.

Unless they meet with some disaster, the aviators or spacemen do not encounter extreme hardships, but it was otherwise with the man behind a dog team. The names of these hardy and heroic individuals come readily to mind: Peary, Amundsen, Scott, Shackleton, Byrd, Wilkins - to name a few. Almost none of them is still alive - with a notable exception.

He is Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who was born in Canada eighty years ago today. His most active period of exploration was that when both poles were conquered, but Stefansson was a different kind of explorer.

His graduate training at Harvard had been in theology and anthropology. His first venture to the Arctic was on an archaeological expedition, and his interest in these and related subjects distinguished his work from that of men who merely sought to sledge farther north or farther south than anyone else. As a consequence, he is perhaps better known today for what he has written about the Arctic than what he did there. Surrounded by his great collection of polar literature in the Baker Library of Dartmouth College, he has become the scholar, helping the college send forth some of the country's ablest young polar specialists. All his life he has championed "The Friendly Arctic," and that is the title of one of his best-known books.

In a birthday message, Senator Ralph Flanders of Vermont said: "I salute you as a realist in a realm of romance and fancy." We join in this salutation and hope that he will remain hale and hearty for many years to come.