What’s the record for longest distance between a single human being and the rest of humanity (i. e. a group of 2 or more human beings)?
By definition, this excludes all space flights involving more than one astronaut (cosmonaut etc.), however, the distance between the (single) command module pilot and the 2 astronauts on the lunar module during the Apollo missions does count.
How about explorers who cross Antarctica alone?
Teruo Nakamura has to be in the running. He was a Taiwanese who joined the Imperial army of Japan and became a holdout after the end of the war. While he was initially part of a loose group of other holdouts & stragglers on the island of Morotai, he set out on his own deep in the jungle and built a makeshift camp for himself in 1956, where he lived until his arrest and surrender in 1974.
That’s close to 20 years of solitude.
Alfred Worden, Command Module Pilot for Apollo 15:
I guess this is it.
What would be the answer if we’re are looking for a human being of the female persuasion, i. e. the most isolated woman in history?
Distance, not time. He was never all that far from other people. As soon as I read the OP, I knew someone would mistakenly suggest this guy.
For earth based stuff…
The problem with Antarctica is there are bases all over it. Many staffed year round. And the first solo crossing was not until the 1990s.
Parts of the South Pacific are near to 3,000 miles from land. But, there is probably most always a boat full of people not too far off. Though who knows what happened out there in previous centuries.
So the Arctic…
The most desolate spot is the North Pole of Inaccessibility.
But I cannot find anything about solo expeditions there.
So best guess is this goofy Russian.
Who skied across the Arctic, alone, in the winter…in the dark.
Isolated from whom? Their own people or humans in general?
There were many a European explorer who went far into north america or africa to live among the natives and didnt see another white person for years.
According to the OP, the rest of humanity.
I would be inclined to look at any number of around the world solo sailors. In particular in races like the Vendée Globe. (Simple solo rtw routes often don’t take sailors that far from fairly crowded routes, but the Vendée and similar races tend to head down to the 65th parallel and run around Antarctica. This is not a place where normal ships go much.) For women, you can look at sailors like Sam Davies and Dee Caffari. I suspect that one of them would probably win.
You’d probably be looking at Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. Other candidates would be Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, andBetty Miller, the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific.
How about whomever was the last survivor of Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctica expedition?
The last 3 guys all died together in the tent - they were snowed in until they were too weak to leave.
Still Antarctic-ing, Robert Byrd spent a winter down there on his own in 1934, when there were few, if any other over-winterers. He didn’t make it all the way through. His radio communications became a bit strange, and relief expeditions were sent to get him out - probably saving his life.
Cowboys.
'Cause they’ll never come home,
And they’re always alone,
Even with someone they love.[indent]-- Ed and Patsy Bruce[/indent]
Anyone doing a solo around-the-world sailing - IIRC, the southern pacific is pretty much deserted and off usual the shipping lanes, and there’s a shortage of inhabited islands, once you’re south of Pitcairn, Easter Island, etc. From Chatham Islands to Chile is pretty much deserted, and still thousands of miles north of any Antarctic bases.
Um… Adam.
What is the furthest one human being has ever been from every other living person? Were they lonely?
I’ve no way to figure out how you’d check it, but aren’t there a lot of trans-Arctic flights going from North America to Eurasia or the reverse? Would one of those flights bring people a lot closer than 2k miles to Shparo? I don’t know if there are any equivalent trans-Antarctic flights, mainly because the ETOPS regs don’t permit it for all but a few aircraft.