PASSINGS : Albert P. Crary; Geophysicist and Polar Explorer

Albert P. Crary, 76, a geophysicist who extensively explored the North and South Pole regions for the government. In the early 1950s, Crary did a variety of research in the Arctic and in 1952 was named the Air Force’s chief scientist for work on a floating ice island known as T-3. In that same year, he was chief scientist for a group that made the first airplane landing on ice at the North Pole. He went to Antarctica in 1957 as deputy leader and chief scientist of U.S. Antarctic research. He also led two major treks into the interior of Antarctica. In Washington Thursday from complications after surgery for a spinal tumor.