Dr. Scott Sandford: The man who never gets cold (or doesn't have the sense to come in out of the cold). It takes a particular type of crazy to wear a swimsuit in Antarctica. To honor this historic event, the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) printed this particular picture in its 1999 Annual "Swimsiut Edition" (making Scott an official AIRhead).

The wind blows almost every day on the Antarctic plateau and wind chills of -30 F and worse are quite common in the areas where meteorites are found on blue ice fields. As a result, meteorite hunters usually need to be bundled up in multiple layers of clothing. However, there are rare occasions when the wind stops entirely. During these brief periods it is actually possible to brave the elements while wearing substantially fewer layers of clothes. Here we see Scott armed only with his "bunny" boots, snow glasses, hat, and a swimsuit. He's leaning on his snowmobile from which he is flying flags from Washington University in St. Louis (top) and the state of New Mexico (bottom). In the background you can see the tops of Mount Mooney (left) and Price Bluff (center). This location is less than 200 miles from the South Pole.

Scott was only outside this way for less than 15 minutes.

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