Richard E. Byrd

Also known as Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr., Admiral Byrd

American naval officer, explorer (1888-1957)

OverviewAI-generated

Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888–1957) was an American explorer, military officer, oceanographer, and aircraft pilot. Born in Winchester, he served as a rear admiral in the United States Navy and participated in both World War I and World War II. Byrd was educated at the University of Virginia, the Virginia Military Institute, and the United States Naval Academy. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross, Medal of Honor, Freedom Award, and Hubbard Medal.

Byrd’s written works include *Skyward*, *Exploring with Byrd*, *Discovery; the story of the second Byrd Antarctic Expedition*, *The Big Aviation Book for Boys*, and *Alone*. He is recognized in the Legion Of Merit collection. Byrd died in Boston and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Synthesized by Vinony from 36 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, MusicBrainz, TMDb, Wikiquote, Open Library, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1888
Died: 1957
Works: 19

Top works

Skyward
Exploring with Byrd
Discovery; the story of the second Byrd Antarctic Expedition
The Big Aviation Book for Boys
Alone

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting

Known for

Into Little America — Self1935
With Byrd at the South Pole — Himself1930
The Bottom of the World — Himself1930

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Group
Origin: United States
Active from: 1972-10

heartland rockpop rockrock

Discography

Diesel Fried Chicken2019

Discogs Stream

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

The Measurement of Observer Agreement for Categorical Data
· 1977 · cited 63,391x
The Sequence Alignment/Map format and SAMtools
· 2009 · cited 59,258x
Fast and accurate short read alignment with Burrows–Wheeler transform
· 2009 · cited 47,665x
ImageNet: A large-scale hierarchical image database
· 2009 · cited 47,292x
Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold
· 2021 · cited 43,635x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“A static hero is a public liability. Progress grows out of motion.”
“If the expedition had failed, which it might well have done with all hope centered in just one plane, I should still be trying to pay back my obligations.”
“No woman has ever stepped on Little America — and we have found it to be the most silent and peaceful place in the world.”
“I am hopeful that Antarctica in its symbolic robe of white will shine forth as a continent of peace as nations working together there in the cause of science set an example of international cooperation.”
“This book is the account of a personal experience — so personal that for four years I could not bring myself to write it. It is different from anything else I have ever written. My other books have been factual, impersonal narratives of my expeditions and flights. This book, on the other hand, is the story of an experience which was in considerable part subjective. I very nearly died before it was over.”
“That risks were involved, all of us knew; but none, so far as we could foresee, that were too great. Otherwise, as leader of a big polar expedition, and subject to all the responsibilities implicit in command, I could not have gone. That I miscalculated is proved by the fact that I nearly lost my life. Yet, I do not regret going.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Evelyn
Gender: male
Citizenship: United States
Place of birth: Winchester
Place of death: Boston
Sibling: Harry F. Byrd
Occupation: aircraft pilot
Educated at: United States Naval Academy
Languages spoken: English language
Conflict: World War II
Military branch: United States Navy
Military rank: rear admiral
Image: Richard E. Byrd cph.3b17378.jpg
Residence: Winchester

Show 9 more facts

Commons category: Richard E. Byrd
date of birth: 1888-10-25
date of death: 1957-03-11
described by source: Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia
birth name: Richard Evelyn Byrd
name in native language: Richard Evelyn Byrd
place of burial: Arlington National Cemetery
start of work period: 1912-00-00
member of: American Philosophical Society

Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer, and pioneering aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. He is also known for discovering Mount Sidley, the largest dormant volcano in Antarctica.

Byrd claimed to be the first to reach both the North and South Poles by air. However, there is some controversy as to whether he was actually the first person to reach the North Pole. It is generally believed that the distance he claimed to have flown was longer than the possible fuel range of his airplane.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Richard E. Byrd” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.