December 14 Birthday
December 14, 1911: Roald Amundsen and four Norwegians became the first humans to reach the South Pole. They had crossed the Ross Ice Shelf, the Transantarctic Mountains, and the polar plateau, traveling 1,500 miles with sled dogs. Robert Falcon Scott, the British explorer, arrived 34 days later to find the Norwegian flag. Scott and his party died on the return journey. Amundsen had learned survival skills from the Netsilik Inuit in the Canadian Arctic, including the use of dogs and skins. Scott used ponies, which froze to death. People born on December 14 fall under the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. The birthstone is Tanzanite and the birth flower is Holly. Historical events on December 14 include 1287: St. Lucia flood kills 50,000+ in Netherlands, 1911: Roald Amundsen reaches South Pole, 2012: Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. Famous people born on December 14 include Nostradamus (1503), Patty Duke (1946), Van Dyke Parks (1941).