"Louise Arner Boyd, born in San Rafael, California, in 1887, was a renowned Arctic explorer and the first woman to fly over the North Pole – a feat she achieved at the age of 68.
Born into a wealthy family, Boyd funded and led her own expedition in 1928 in an abortive attempt to find the Norwegian explorer Roald Amunsden, who himself had vanished without trace during his own attempt to find the Italian explorer Umberto Nobile.
Despite her failure to find Amunsden, the Norwegian government awarded her the Chevalier Cross of the Order of St Olav.
In the years 1931, 1933, 1937, she led scientific expeditions to both the east and north-eastern coasts of Greenland, and an area near the De Geer Glacier is now named Louise Boyd Land.
