Editing Robert Peary (section)

===Lack of independent validation===
Peary did not submit his evidence for review to neutral national or international parties or to other explorers.<ref name=Discovered/> Peary's claim was certified by the [[National Geographic Society]] (NGS) in 1909 after a cursory examination of Peary's records, as NGS was a major sponsor of his expedition.<ref name=Discovered/> This was a few weeks before Cook's Pole claim was rejected by a Danish panel of explorers and navigational experts.

The National Geographic Society limited access to Peary's records. At the time, his proofs were not made available for scrutiny by other professionals, as had been done by the Danish panel.<ref name=Discovered/> [[Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor]] persuaded the [[United States National Academy of Sciences]] not to get involved. The [[Royal Geographical Society]] (RGS) of London gave Peary a one-off medal (created by sculptor [[Kathleen Scott]], later widow of [[Robert Falcon Scott]]), in 1910,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1909/12/16/archives/nations-hail-peary-as-pole-discoverer-felicitations-from-england.html | title=Nations Hail Peary as Pole Discoverer | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=December 16, 1909}}</ref> despite internal council splits which only became known in the 1970s. The RGS based their decision on the belief that the NGS had performed a serious scrutiny of the "proofs", which was not the case.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} Neither the [[American Geographical Society]] nor any of the geographical societies of semi-Arctic [[Scandinavia]] has recognized Peary's North Pole claim.