Ross MacPhee

Mammologist, paleontologist, anthropologist and polar historian Ross MacPhee is one of those rare individuals who’s equally adept discussing fossil evidence of early mammals who roamed Antarctica 45 million years ago—as he is dissecting gritty details of the 1911-1912 polar race between England’s Robert Falcon Scott and Norway’s Roald Amundsen to be the first to reach the South Pole. Dr. MacPhee is a curator at the American Museum of Natural History, which hosted the ground-breaking exhibit “The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition.” He’s also the author of “Race to The End: Amundsen, Scott, and the Attainment of the South Pole.” MacPhee, who has participated in more than 50 scientific expeditions (including both Polar Regions) is one of the special guest presenters during our Celebrating Shackleton: Journey from Antarctica to South Georgia voyage.