The American Geographical Society's awards ceremony on Wednesday, April 15, at the University of Delaware will honor past and present polar explorers - of this planet and of Mars.

Also recognized will be the researchers who oversaw the gargantuan task of relocating the society's library, described as "the largest privately owned geographical research collection in the western hemisphere," from New York to Wisconsin in the 1970s.

The public is invited to attend the ceremony, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Louise and David Roselle Center for the Arts. Register online at this Web page.

The ceremony will be Webcast live at this site and made available as a podcast after the event at the UD podcast Web site.

The lecture also will be simulcast into the University of Delaware's virtual world in Second Life, at this location. You must have an avatar in Second Life to visit using this link.

Cullum Geographical Medal

The Cullum Geographical Medal, "for those who distinguish themselves by geographical discoveries or in the advancement of geographical science," will be presented to Peter Smith, principal investigator of the Phoenix Mars Mission, and be awarded posthumously to Matthew Henson, the African American explorer who accompanied Commander Robert Peary on the 1909 expedition to the North Pole.

Born in Charles County, Md., Henson became an adventurer early in life, going to sea at the age of 12 as a cabin boy aboard a merchant ship. In 1887, while working as a stock clerk in Washington, D.C., he met Peary, then a U.S. Navy lieutenant, who offered him a job as his valet on a surveying expedition in Nicaragua. Peary was so impressed by Henson's skills and knowledge that he asked him to join him on his arctic adventures over the next two decades, culminating in the 1909 expedition to the North Pole.

Peary repeatedly acknowledged that he could not have reached the top of the world-a feat many believe to have been accomplished on April 6, 1909 - without Henson, who learned all he could from the native Inuit people, including their language, how to build a camp and repair sledges, drive a dog team, make fur clothing, and hunt.