1880–1951, American explorer, b. Chicago, Ill. He was a surveyor and engineer in railroad building and later a prospector and mining engineer in NW Canada. He became the financial supporter and associate of Roald Amundsen in his arctic aviation ventures. In 1926 they flew in the dirigible Norge N from Spitsbergen over the North Pole to Alaska, where Ellsworth distinguished himself by saving the lives of two companions. He was an observer in the 1931 flight of the Graf Zeppelin to Franz Josef Land and Northern Land. In 1936 he accomplished the first flight over Antarctica from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. In 1939 he flew into interior Antarctica from the Indian Ocean side, viewing the previously unseen land named American Highland. With Amundsen he wrote Our Polar Flight (1925) and First Crossing of the Polar Sea (1927). His later books were Search (1932), Exploring Today (1935), and Beyond Horizons (1938).

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