Frederick Albert Cook was born on 10th June 1865 in Callicoon, New York, United States, and he died on 5th August 1940 (aged 74 years) in New Rochelle, New York, United States. An American explorer, physician and ethnographer, Frederick became famous when he claimed to have reached the North Pole which gave rise to a controversy as the claim had already been made by Robert Peary. He laid claim to summiting the Denali Peak which also turned out to be fraudulent. He did make a discovery of the Meighen Island which was the only discovery in the American Arctic which was made by an American expedition. Frederick Cook was the surgeon on Robert Peary’s 1891–92 Arctic Expedition, and on the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99 led by Adrien de Gerlache. He contributed greatly to saving the lives of the crew when their ship (the Belgica) was ice-bound during the winter.
Do you know: Frederick Cook was charged with fraud for the claim to reach the North Pole and his Inuit companions stated that he had stopped much short of the Pole.
