Richard Evelyn Byrd, b. Winchester, Va., Oct. 25, 1888, d. Mar. 11, 1957, was an aviator, Antarctic explorer, and author. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and later became an aviator. In 1925 he commanded a naval flying unit on the MacMillan expedition to the Arctic, and on May 9, 1926, he and Floyd Bennett flew over the North Pole, for which Byrd was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. With backing from private donors, Byrd organized (1928) an expedition to Antarctica, establishing a base called Little America on the Ross Ice Shelf near Roosevelt Island. With three companions, he flew (1929) to the South Pole and back. On his return to the United States he was given a hero's welcome and promoted to the rank of rear admiral. Byrd led further Antarctic expeditions in 1933-35, 1939-41, 1946-47, and 1955-56. In 1934 he spent five months by himself near the South Pole, an experience described in his book, Alone (1938).

Bibliography: Gladych, Martin, Admiral Byrd of Antarctica (1960); Hoyt, E. P., The Last Explorer (1968); Montague, Richard, Oceans, Poles and Airmen (1971).