“Whoever will truly admire nature should observe her in extremes. In the tropics one finds nature in her fullest splendor and lushness, flaunting her Sunday clothes, but admiration all too easily leads one to overlook her heart. At the Poles she is naked, allowing the grand internal structure to be reveal all the more clearly. In the tropics one looses itself in the multiplicity of details to be admired, but here the lack of detail cause the eye to be directed at the overwhelming whole, at her productive powers in the absence of things produced. Here one’s attention, freed of preoccupation and unmoved by particulars, can be concentrated on nature’s powers…”

(- Karl Weyprecht, navy officer who argued that polar expeditions should be driven by scientific research instead of exploration, and helped inspire The First International Polar Year, 1882-1883)