TPO 28

In this set of materials, the reading passage and the lecturer discuss Peary's claim about reaching the North Pole. Although the passage claims that some arguments provide strong support for the truth of Peary's claim that he reached the pole on April 7, 1909, the speaker refutes this idea through several reasons, which I will describe in this reporter.

First, the reading passage says that National Geographic sent some people to the North Pole as a committee investigated some of Peary's record and equipment. Finally, the committee declared some document for the truth of Peary's claim. However, the lecturer believes that the National Geographic committee was not objective. The committee's members were Peary's friends, and they had spent a lot of money on the Peary travel. Also, the committee only investigated for two days. So, this investigation was not objective.

Furthermore, the passage states that before Peary exploration, Tom Avery also had been exploited the North Pole in 37 days, So Peary would be able to explore the North Pole in 37 days. However, The professor argues that the travel condition of Tom Avery was different from The Peary conditions. Tom Avery had much less weight when he wanted to explore the North Pole. Because he did not carry her food, and his food was brought to him every day by helicopter. Also, the weather condition in Avery’s journey was much better than the time that Peary went on that exploration. Therefore, these two journeys are not comparable.

Finally, although the passage says that measured shadow angles in Peary’s pictures from his journey confirm that he reached the North Pole, the speaker disagrees by mentioning that Peary took those photos one hundred years ago, and the shadows in the pictures have become blurred. So, even the most accurate technics for measuring the shadow angles in the pictures could not prove his claim.