Vivian Fuchs

Vivian Fuchs (1908-1999), British geologist and explorer of the Antarctic, born on the Isle of Wight. Vivian Ernest Fuchs received an M.A. degree from the University of Cambridge in 1929 and in the same year served as geologist with the Cambridge East Greenland Expedition. During the 1930s, Fuchs was a geologist with two expeditions engaged in geological and survey work in east Africa. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the British army in World War II (1939-1945) and rose to the rank of major.

In November 1957 Fuchs set out as head of the 12-member British team of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition on the first crossing of Antarctica, a 3,473-km (2,158-mi), 99-day journey from the Weddell Sea, across the South Pole to the Ross Sea. Equipped with snow tractors, the Fuchs party traversed much of the previously unexplored area of the Antarctic landmass and gathered important scientific information. The expedition is considered one of the outstanding accomplishments undertaken in connection with the International Geophysical Year and earned Fuchs a knighthood in 1958. With Sir Edmund Hillary, Fuchs wrote The Crossing of Antarctica (1958).