* Astronomy

Robert Edwin Peary, Sr. (May 6, 1856 - February 20, 1920) was an American explorer who claimed to have led the first expedition, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole. Peary's claim was widely credited for most of the 20th century, rather than the competing claim by Frederick Cook who said he got there a year earlier. Both claims were widely debated in newspapers until 1913; modern historians generally think Cook did not reach the pole, and there are grave doubts that Peary did, though he may have been as close as 8 km.
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