About BPRC

The Byrd Polar Research Center (BPRC) at OSU is named in honor of the famous American explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd. The Center is recognized internationally as a leader in polar and alpine research, and maintains a primary focus on the roles of cold regions in the Earth's climate system. Due to its systems approach, the Center has a rich inter-disciplinary history.

Quick Facts

  • The Center began in 1960 as the Institute for Polar Studies. The institute was established after Ohio State had served as a data collection site for the International Geophysical Year 1957-58. In 1987, the Institute was renamed to the Byrd Polar Research Center.
  • The Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program — in collaboration with Ohio State University Archives — holds the papers of Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Frederick A. Cook, George Hubert Wilkins and many other prominent polar explorers. Collection highlights include the diary of Admiral Byrd and the first color film of Antarctica.
  • The Goldthwait Polar Library is a special collection library with extensive materials on the history of polar exploration, glaciology, polar meteorology, remote sensing and paleoclimatology. The Goldthwait Polar Library has over 1,000 maps of polar regions.
  • The Center is home to the United States Polar Rock Repository. The Repository is a 4,200 square foot facility with over 16,000 rock samples from Antarctica, South Africa and South America.
  • Scientists from the Center publish close to 100 articles per year in refereed scientific journals.
  • Over 4500 students and teachers visit the Center each year.