Carl Robert Eklund

Background

Carl Robert Eklund was born on January 27, 1909, in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, United States. He was the son of John Eklund and Maria Olsson. His father, a Swedish immigrant, was a carpenter and builder.

Education

Eklund attended the Tomahawk public schools, then enrolled at Carleton College, from which he received the B. A. in 1932.  

He became a graduate fellow at the Oregon State College Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit in 1936; two years later, he received an M. S. there.  

While in Washington, Carl Robert Eklund began studies that led to a Ph. D. from the University of Maryland (1959).

Career

In 1933, Eklund began twenty-nine years of government service by accepting a position as a forestry foreman in Shenandoah National Park.

In 1937, Eklund joined the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, initially working as a biologist at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in Michigan (1937 - 1938).

Eklund first traveled to Antarctica in 1939-1941, as one of the scientists attached to the U. S. Antarctic Service.

In the course of an eighty-four-day journey by dogsled, which included travel through what Ronne termed "the most dangerous crevassed area that can ever be encountered in Antarctica, " they covered 1, 264 miles.

They mapped 350 miles of coastline, discovered a group of islands in King George VI Sound (now known as the Eklund Islands), ascertained that Alexander I Land is an island, and plotted the position, based on sun sights, of some 320 peaks and nunataks.

After the United States entered World War II, Eklund's polar experience led to his being assigned to the Arctic Section of the Army Air Forces. He served in Greenland and Canada and was instrumental in the magnetic surveying of Labrador and Baffin Island.

Eklund also offered expert advice on cold-weather equipment. He was discharged with the rank of major and returned to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Eklund served for two years in the Office of River Basin Studies in Portland, Oregon, and for five years as an officer in charge of the Wildlife Section, first in Chicago and then in Washington, D. C.

In 1955-1956, he was assistant regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Atlanta, Georgia. The International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958, offered Eklund the opportunity for a second trip to Antarctica, and he accepted the post of scientific leader of the Wilkes Station.

In 1959, he was a founder and first president of the Antarctican Society.

Eklund lectured widely in his final years, and in 1962, he served as the official representative of the National Academy of Sciences at an international meeting in Paris.

Achievements

• Eklund and Finn Ronne made one of the most important land treks in Antarctic history. During 1957-1958, he conducted intensive research, and his findings formed the crux of his dissertation as well as his most important contribution to science. In particular, Eklund studied the skua and other Antarctic birds, banding many of them and learning a great deal about the survival of wildlife in regions of bitter cold. He measured the temperature of incubating eggs of the Adelie penguin by means of a transistorized thermometer inserted in an egg, and he also closely observed the habits of seals. These researches brought Eklund an international reputation as a scientist, as did several articles and the monograph Antarctic Fauna and Some of Its Problems (1956). While at Carleton Carl Eklund earned all-Midwest Conference honors in football as an end.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Antarctica;: Polar research and discovery during the International Geophysical Year (Holt library of science. Series 1 no. 2)

Membership

Carl Robert Eklund was a member of the Committee on Polar Research of the National Academy of Sciences and chief of the Polar and Arctic Branch of the Army Research Office.

He also was a member of the Panel on Biology and Medical Science of the National Academy of Sciences.

Connections

On October 5, 1939, Eklund married Harriet San Giovanni; they had two daughters.

Father:

John Eklund

Mother:

Maria Olsson

Wife:

Harriet San Giovanni

References

• Quest for a Continent