Have you ever used a compass? A compass is only useful due to the earth’s natural magnetic field. This magnetic field is comes from the earth’s core and by mixing with particles emitted from the sun, known as Solar Winds, a magnetic field is formed. The magnetic field comes from two opposite ends of the earth known as the South Pole and the North Pole. The North Pole isn’t a place where you can stand because it simply emanates from the earth and has no land above it; however, the South Pole is situated on the famously dangerous exploration site – Antarctica.

On this day January 16^th, in 1909, Ernest Shackleton and his crew of explorers discover the South Pole.  The South Pole shifts over time, but not nearly as much as its counterpart the North Pole, which is in constant movement (although it should be noted that the North Pole does not move fast enough for a compass to not work.) Shackleton made this expedition with three of his friends Edgeworth David, Douglas Mawson, and Alistair Mackay, and only a week prior on January 9^th, they all had made it to the furthest Southern Longitude.

Upon Shackleton’s return to the United Kingdom he was greeted as a hero and knighted. He published his experience of the expedition in his book “Heart of Antarctic.” He had begun his voyage on the Nimrod on January 1^st, 1908 and had barely made it back alive. He had his friends were forced to survive their trip back from the South Pole on only half-rations. Luckily, they made the boat and were not left stranded on Antarctica; otherwise, who would have heard his incredible story?