tpo 28# 1

The article provides three reasons to support the claim that Robert E. Peary, a well known adventurer and arctic explorer, reached the North Pole on April 7, 1909. The professor opposes this claim and says that there is no solid evidence that Peary reached the North Pole. and these arguments are not convincing.

First, the reading states that the national Geographic Society put together a committee that made an investigation which declared that Peary had indeed reached the Pole. The professor counters this point and explains that the investigation was not completely objective because the some of the committee 's members were Peary's friends that contributed money to spend on the investigation. She adds that Peary himself said that they did not examine this records objectively. Therefore, The committee 's decision was biased.

Second, the author points out that a British explorer named Tom Avery recently made the same trip in less than 37 days that supports the Peary's claim that he could reached the Pole with the same speed. The professor casts doubt this point and illustrates that Tom Avery used the same sled but it was much less in weight because he did not transfer food. He mentions that the food dropped for him by airplanes and he travelled in favorable conditions but Peary travelled in unsuitable conditions. As a result, the professor says the two trips are too different to provide support for this claim.

Third, the reading claims that the photographs taken by Peary support his claim because by measuring the shadows makes it possible to calculate the surface position in the sun. Although the professor demonstrates that the technique used for this calculation is very precise and the pictures taken by primitive camera were fuzzy and the photos also faded by time. He said that it made the shadows blurred and hard to be used in this complex calculation.