Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Dr. William Sladen


William Sladen is an amazing man. He first
visited Antarctica in 1948 and has worked and
studied in Antarctica for all or parts of seven
decades. Plus, at 86 years of age, he has a
great sense of humor and is active enough to
observe Penguins this summer at Cape Crozier.
Tonight, Lynn and I attended a lecture by this
famous gentleman that included a 50 minute video
taken in the late 1960's and narrated by the late
Charles Kerault of CBS. It was called "Penguin
City" and was shown on national television in 1970.
It was pretty fascinating watching a summer season
unfold at an Adelie Penguin colony. It was similar
to "March of the Penguins" but it took place many
years before the technology was available to take
in depth video of penguins in their natural habitat.
Dr. Sladen participated in the first International
Geophysical Year, worked with both William Scott's
son during his visit to Antarctica, and with Roger
Tory Peterson of Peterson's Travel Guides.
Listening to Dr. Sladen speak was like listening
to a walking history book. He is a living legend
in Antarctic lore.

2 comments:

skua76 said...

This is amazing! Glad you got to see this. Is he down there now with Ainley's group?

Tom said...

Yeah, he's both with, and the inspiration for Ainley's group. He's quite animated and very un-stuffy