Louise Arnar Boyd was the first American woman to lead an Arctic expedition. As a self-taught polar scientist and photographer, Boyd fearlessly discovered, mapped and documented uncharted territory in the far North, paving the way for future explorations and informing critical climate change research today. Boyd returned to the Arctic one last time in 1955, when she chartered an airplane and became the first woman to fly over the North Pole. Boyd died in 1972, two days before 85th birthday, requesting that her ashes be scattered in the Arctic Ocean.