The Markers Cortada planted 51different colored flags on the moving ice sheet that covers the South Pole, each 10 meters apart and marking where the South Pole stood during each of the past 50 years (when humans first inhabited the South Pole). Each flag also displayed the coordinates of the location on the world above where an important event that took place during that year. Please click on image to read the list of historic events that have moved the world forward during the past five decades. National Science Foundation (NSF) Antarctic Artist and Writers Program awardee Xavier Cortada marks the passage of time by exploring important world events that have moved the world forward during the past 50 years. The South Pole On December 14, 1911, Norwegian Roald Amundsen was first to reach the South Pole. The geographic South Pole is located near the center of the Antarctic ice sheet at an altitude of 2800 meters. The ice sheet covering the Pole is moving at about 10 m per year toward the Weddell Sea (along the 60 degree West meridian). Each year, staff at the South Pole station reposition the South Pole marker to compensate for the movement of the ice. On October 31, 1956, Lt. Shinn landed the first plane, "Que Sera Sera," at the South Pole. Three weeks later, on November 20, 1956, the first South Pole station construction crew arrived. On January 4, 1957, the Navt Seabees crew turned the completed station over to a team of nine scientists, nine support professionals (e.g.: a doctor, a cook) and a dog who wintered over and officially opened the base to scientific exploration. The Installation On January 4, 2007, on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the South Pole station, Miami artist Xavier Cortada arrived at the South Pole and planted 51 differently-colored flags along a 500-meter stretch of a moving ice sheet. The last flag was planted where South Pole stood in 1956, when the Pole became permanently inhabited. The first, where the South Pole stands fifty years later. Each flag is marked with its respective year, and with the coordinates of a place on Earth the artist selected as important in "moving the world forward" during that year (e.g.: 1957 is Sputnik, 1963 is the March on Washington, 1969 is the Lunar Landing, 1997 is the Kyoto Accord) while scientists worked in the South Pole. The Marker flags were exhibited at the Miami Museum of Science and Planetarium prior to being installed in the South Pole .For more information visit http://www.miamisci.org/www/exhibits/markers/ Cortada's Markers Xavier Cortada selected the following events to mark how the world has moved forward in the past fifty years: 1956 90°S Antarctica Construction crews arrive at the South Pole 1957 47°50'N 66°03'E Soviet Union Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit Earth, is launched into space from Baikonur, USSR 1958 48°52'N 02°20'E France Pan Am's transatlantic 707 flight lands in Paris, jet age begins 1959 32°47'N 96°48'W United States Microchip is invented 1960 11°21'N 142°12'E Pacific Ocean Trieste dives to the bottom of the Mariana Trench: 35,813 feet 1961 47°50'N 66°03'E Soviet Union Yuri Gagarin is first man in space (launched from Baikonur) 1962 42°22'N 71°04'W United States Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is published 1963 38°53'N 77°02'W United States March on Washington for Civil Rights 1964 40°43'N 74°00'W United States Beatlemania sweeps America 1965 23°08'N 82°22'W Cuba Freedom Flights for Cuban refugees begin 1966 28°40'N 77°13'E India Indira Gandhi elected first woman prime minister of India, the world's largest democracy 1967 33°55'S 18°22'E South Africa First human heart transplant 1968 55°45'N 37°35'E Soviet Union Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signed in Moscow, London and Washington, D.C. 1969 28°24'N 80°36'W United States The Eagle lands on the moon (launched from Cape Canaveral) 1970 13°06'N 59°37'W Barbados Ra II crosses Atlantic in 57 days 1971 37°21'N 121°16'W United States Microprocessor is invented 1972 39°55'N 116°25'E China Nixon visits China 1973 33°86'S 151°22'E Australia Sydney Opera House is built 1974 08°59'N 40°10'E Ethiopia Skeleton of "Lucy," our 3.2 million year old ancestor, is discovered 1975 19°24'N 99°09'W Mexico United Nations convenes First World Conference on Women 1976 28°24'N 80°36'W United States Viking I and II land on Mars (launched from Cape Canaveral) 1977 01°43'N 44°53'E Somalia Smallpox eradicated from Earth 1978 53°33N 02°07'W England First test tube baby born 1979 40°01'N 105°16'W United States Ten independent living centers were founded across the US for persons with disabilities 1980 54°23'N 18°40'E Poland Solidarity strikes across Poland 1981 41°08N 73°42'W United States IBM launches personal computer 1982 50°50'N 0°08'W England Whale hunting moratorium enacted 1983 41°54'N 12°27'E Vatican City Pope John Paul II retracts the ban on Galileo 1984 37°19'N 122°02'W United States Apple Macintosh launched 1985 09°02'N 38°42'E Ethiopia Live Aid concerts raise millions to reduce famine 1986 14°37'N 121°00'E Philippines Corazon Aquino leads People Power to end Marcos regime in the Philippines 1987 39°46'N 86°09'W United States Anti-depressant Prozac is introduced 1988 33°27'S 70°40'W Chile Chile plebiscite ends dictatorship, ushers in democracy across South America 1989 52°30'N 13°25'E Germany Berlin Wall is knocked down 1990 51°04'N 01°51'E English Channel Tunnel links UK and Europe 1991 55°45'N 37°35'E Russia Russia becomes "independent" as the Soviet Union collapses 1992 22°53'S 43°06'W Brazil First Earth Summit's Rio Declaration has 153 countries focus on sustainable development 1993 15°46'S 47°55'E United States World Wide Web browser is created, distributed 1994 25°45'S 28°10'E South Africa Apartheid ends in South Africa, Mandela elected president 1995 44°40'N 111°06'W United States Grey wolves return to the American West 1996 76°43'S 159°40'E Antarctica NASA announces that the Antarctic's ALH 84001meteorite points to existence of life on Mars 1997 35°00'N 135°45'E Japan Kyoto Protocol enacted 1998 03°10'N 101°42'E Malaysia Petronas Towers topped at 1483 ft., the tallest building at that time 1999 09°32'N 21°72'E Egypt Breitling Orbiter 3 hot air balloon sails non-stop around the world 2000 33°52'S 151°13'E Australia Cathy Freeman, the Aboriginal runner, wins Olympic gold 2001 12°03'S 77°03'W Peru A 4,000-year-old site yielded the remains of the oldest known city in the New World 2002 15°46'S 47°55'W Brazil Brazil Soccer wins 5th World Cup 2003 52°13N 00°08'W England Human Genome Project completed 2004 37°23'N 122°05'W United States Google, digital music, wireless technologies and blogs boomed 2005 20°24'N 03°41'W Spain Spain ends all discrimination based on sexual orientation 2006 TBA 0°0'N Easter Island Scientists discover new species 2007: 25°46'N 80°12'W Geographic South Pole The beginning of a 150,000-year Journey The beginning of a 150,000-year Journey At the location of the 2007 Geographic South Pole marker, the artist planted a mangrove seedling from Miami's Biscayne Bay, 25°46'N 80°12'W. ( Cortada's "150,000-year Journey" project also addresses the passage of time, asking us to see time in geologic instead of human time frames.