This list is for recognised pioneering explorers of the polar regions. It does not include subsequent travelers and expeditions.
Polar explorers
- Jameson Adams
- Mark Agnew
- Stian Aker
- Valerian Albanov
- Roald Amundsen
- Salomon August Andrée
- Piotr Fyodorovich Anjou
- Henryk Arctowski
- Josée Auclair
- Mikhail Babushkin
- Konstantin Badygin
- Karl Baer
- Georgiy Baidukov
- John Balleny
- Ann Bancroft
- Willem Barents
- Michael Barne
- Robert Bartlett
- Nikifor Begichev
- Fabian von Bellingshausen
- Robert M. Berry
- Edward W. Bingham
- Olav Bjaaland
- Alfred Björling
- Carsten Borchgrevink
- Jon Bowermaster
- Henry Robertson Bowers
- Louise Arner Boyd
- Edward Bransfield
- Philip Brocklehurst
- William Speirs Bruce
- Georgy Brusilov
- Daniel Byles
- Richard Evelyn Byrd
- Todd Carmichael
- Umberto Cagni
- Jacques Cartier
- Jean-Baptiste Charcot
- Semion Chelyuskin
- Apsley Cherry-Garrard
- Vasili Chichagov
- Valery Chkalov
- George Comer
- Sebastian Copeland
- Frederick A. Cook
- James Cook
- Henry Cookson
- Augustine Courtauld
- Albert P. Crary
- Tom Crean
- Lars Christensen
- Jeremy Clarkson
- Andrew Croft
- Francis Crozier
- Christian Dahl
- Eduard Dallmann
- Émile Danco
- Ann Daniels
- Edgeworth David
- Jason De Carteret
- Edwin de Haven
- George W. De Long
- Nina Demme
- Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski
- Erich von Drygalski
- George J. Dufek
- Jules Dumont d'Urville
- Lincoln Ellsworth
- Edward Evans
- Edgar Evans
- Sir Ranulph Fiennes
- Dwayne Fields
- Wilhelm Filchner
- John Franklin
- Peter Freuchen
- Martin Frobisher
- Vivian Fuchs
- Tobias Furneaux
- Yakov Gakkel
- Leo Gburek
- Matvei Gedenschtrom
- Adrien de Gerlache
- Johann Georg Gmelin
- Adolphus Greely
- Pen Hadow
- Charles Francis Hall
- Richard Hammond
- Helmer Hanssen
- Bernhard Hantzsch
- Sverre Hassel
- Isaac Israel Hayes
- Samuel Hearne
- Matthew A. Henson
- Wally Herbert
- Alex Hibbert
- Edmund Hillary
- John Hornby
- Andreas Peter Hovgaard
- Henry Hudson
- John Huston
- Edward Israel
- Hjalmar Johansen
- Antony Jinman
- Erling Kagge
- Evald Kallstenius
- Otto Kalvitsa
- Elisha Kent Kane
- Sydney L. Kirkby
- Gerald Ketchum
- Maria Klenova
- Lauge Koch
- Aleksandr Kolchak
- Nikolai Kolomeitsev
- Alexander Kuchin
- Paul Landry
- Dmitry Laptev
- Khariton Laptev
- Carl Anton Larsen
- Georges Lecointe
- Christian Leden
- Ernest de Koven Leffingwell
- Percy Lemon
- Godske Lindenov
- Martin Lindsay
- Fyodor Litke
- Fritz Loewe
- Ivan Lyakhov
- Alistair Mackay
- Alexander MacKenzie
- Aeneas Mackintosh
- Cecil Madigan
- Rune Malterud
- Stepan Malygin
- Donal T. Manahan
- Albert Hastings Markham
- James Marr
- Eric Marshall
- Fyodor Matisen
- Fyodor Matyushkin
- Douglas Mawson
- James May1
- Francis Leopold McClintock
- Jim McNeill
- Janice Meek
- Alexander von Middendorff
- Ejnar Mikkelsen
- Fyodor Minin
- Gerhard Muller
- Fridtjof Nansen
- George Nares
- Alfred Gabriel Nathorst
- Edward Nelson
- Umberto Nobile
- Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
- Otto Nordenskjöld
- Børge Ousland
- Dmitry Ovtsyn
- Pyotr Pakhtusov
- Nathaniel Palmer
- Ivan Papanin
- William Parry
- Charlie Paton
- Fiann Paul
- Robert Edwin Peary
- Yakov Permyakov
- Eric Philips
- Nikolai Pinegin
- Ralph Plaisted
- Fedot Popov
- Richard Profit
- Vasili Pronchishchev
- Maria Pronchishcheva
- Lewis Gordon Pugh
- Emil Racovita
- Pierre-Esprit Radisson
- John Rae
- Knud Rasmussen
- Andrew Regan
- George W. Rice
- John Richardson
- Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
- Quintin Riley
- Alfred Ritscher
- Edith Ronne
- Finn Ronne
- James Clark Ross
- John Ross
- Vladimir Rusanov
- John Rymill
- Rudolf Samoylovich
- Yakov Sannikov
- Ben Saunders
- Otto Schmidt
- William Scoresby
- Robert Falcon Scott
- Georgy Sedov
- Ernest Shackleton
- Nobu Shirase
- Pyotr Shirshov
- Ivan Simonov
- Paul Siple
- Mikhail Somov
- Pavel Senko
- Mikhail Stadukhin
- Vilhjalmur Stefansson
- Will Steger
- Otto Sverdrup
- Robert Swan
- Eduard Toll
- Yevgeny Tolstikov
- Alexey Tryoshnikov
- Avgust Tsivolko
- Nikolay Urvantsev
- Georgy Ushakov
- Merkury Vagin
- Boris Vilkitsky
- Vladimir Vize
- Lawrence Wager
- Paul Walker
- Carl Frederick Wandel
- Gino Watkins
- Richard Weber
- James Weddell
- Alfred Wegener
- Walter Wellman
- Frank Wild
- Hubert Wilkins
- Edward Wilson
- Oscar Wisting
- Frank Worsley
- Ferdinand von Wrangel