American cartographer, explorer, mountaineer, photographer and director of the Boston Museum of Science for 40 years, Washburn was honored for mapping the highest peak of the planet, Mt. Everest. He is the author of “Exploring the Unknown: Historic Diaries of Bradford Washburn’s Alaska/Yukon Expeditions,” published at the same time as his wife’s memoir of being the first woman to climb Mt. McKinley. His book, with its glorious photographs and maps, is the expedition diaries of a man whose life has been dedicated not merely to adventure but, most importantly, to education. This might explain his tremendous success, at least in part.
A living legend, Bradford Washburn embarked on each expedition with a desire to share what he found. He was also a brilliant aerial photographer who has been making “views from above” of high mountain peaks and glaciers since 1934. Not all of Washburn’s photography is airborne. The many Alaskan expedition albums he has put together contain carefully sequenced picture essays that detail the organization of supplies or camp conditions. The albums also contain portraits of expedition members, including his wife, Barbara, who has been a key participant in many of the major climbs and mapping expeditions.
Rugged and craggy, he has the open visage of the born adventurer: the weathered look of someone who has spent much of his life outdoors. Climbing from the time he was 16 in the French Alps, he has detailed three historic expeditions: The Harvard – Dartmouth Mount Crillon Expedition of 1931, the National Geographic Society Yukon expedition of 1935 and the Mount McKinley: First Ascent of the West Buttress of 1951.
At age 29 he married 25-year-old Barbara Polk and for many years she was his assistant and colleague on many of these climbing, mapping, and exploration projects. The couple made other expeditions to Alaska, the Grand Canyon and Mt. Everest while raising three children at their home near Boston.
The great explorer died at age 96 on January 10, 2007 at his home in Lexington, MA.
Link to Wikipedia biography