Science: World's End

Only a handful of men have ever gone poking into Antarctica. It is the coldest, loneliest, least known of all the continents; even its coastline has remained an uncompleted puzzle to mapmakers. Last week, a stubby little ship steamed into New York Harbor with some of the missing pieces.

The Port of Beaumont had sailed from the U.S. 15 months ago, with 19 men and two women, under the command of ex-Navy Commander Finn Ronne (rhymes with bonnie). The expedition had had probably the most ambitious scientific agenda of any that ever ventured into...