Peary On Top

In 1909, two years before Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole, Admiral Robert E. Peary went in the opposite direction to the top of the world -- or so he said. Skeptics have long challenged his claim, contending that he never got closer to the pole than 89 km (55 miles) away.

Last week the National Geographic Society revealed the results of a yearlong study of the expedition's records. The Navigation Foundation reviewed celestial positions and ocean-depth soundings marked in the logs, and even examined the shadows in photographs to calculate the angle of the sun and help fix the locations in the pictures. The conclusion: Peary made it to within 8 km (5 miles) of the pole, close enough to confirm his place in history.