Peary Controversy
Herbert became involved in the controversy over whether Peary had in fact reached the North Pole in 1909. He was commissioned by the National Geographic Society, which had supported Peary's claim since 1909, to write a biography, but as he researched Peary's life he came to realise that Peary must have falsified his records, and not reached the Pole. His book, The Noose of Laurels, caused a furore when it was published in 1989, complicated by the fact that his conclusion meant that Herbert himself had a better claim to be the first explorer to have reached the North Pole on foot. His conclusion was widely accepted, although some have disputed the conclusion, including the explorer Tom Avery
Herbert was knighted in 2000.
Read more about this topic: Wally Herbert
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“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)