# Most isolated human in history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2014, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467 "2014-07-06T08:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/1 "2014-07-06T08:45:23Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/2 "2014-07-06T09:17:36Z")
[Teruo Nakamura](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/3 "2014-07-06T09:32:27Z")
[Alfred Worden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Worden), Command Module Pilot for Apollo 15: > [@](#): > > Additionally, Worden has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Most isolated human being” during his time alone in the command module Endeavour. When the orbiting command module was at its greatest distance from Scott and Irwin in the Falcon, Worden was 2,235 miles away from any other human beings. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/4 "2014-07-06T11:22:25Z")
> [@Santos\_L\_Halper](#): > > [Alfred Worden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/5 "2014-07-06T11:28:47Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > [Teruo Nakamura](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Fishtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed655f/32.png) [@Fishtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishtar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/6 "2014-07-06T11:48:25Z")
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. > **[Pole of inaccessibility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of_inaccessibility)** > > A pole of inaccessibility with respect to a geographical criterion of inaccessibility marks a location that is the most challenging to reach according to that criterion. Often it refers to the most distant point from the coastline, implying a maximum degree of continentality or oceanity. In these cases, a pole of inaccessibility can be defined as the center of the largest circle that can be drawn within an area of interest without encountering a coast. Where a coast is imprecisely defined, the ... But I cannot find anything about solo expeditions there. So best guess is this goofy Russian. > **[Dmitry Shparo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Shparo)** > > Dmitry Shparo (born August 23, 1941) is a Russian Arctic explorer and endurance skier. He is internationally known for twice reaching the North Pole on snow skis. > In 1979, Shparo led the first ski expedition from Eurasia to the North Pole. In 1988, he completed a full traverse across the Arctic Ocean from Russia to Canada via the North Pole. In 1998, Shparo and his son, Matvey, became the first people in modern times to ski across the Bering Strait, from Russia into North America. > Dmitry Shparo... Who skied across the Arctic, alone, in the winter…in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/7 "2014-07-06T12:00:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/8 "2014-07-06T14:47:52Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Isolated from whom? According to the OP, the rest of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/9 "2014-07-06T15:53:55Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/10 "2014-07-07T02:19:11Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > 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? You’d probably be looking at [Valentina Tereshkova](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova), the first woman in space. Other candidates would be Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, and[Betty Miller](http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home3/56236179-200/miller-flight-woman-fly.html.csp), the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/11 "2014-07-07T03:15:11Z")
How about whomever was the last survivor of Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctica expedition? ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/12 "2014-07-07T04:36:10Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/13 "2014-07-07T04:50:11Z")
Cowboys. _'Cause they’ll never come home, And they’re always alone, Even with someone they love.[indent]-- Ed and Patsy Bruce_[/indent] ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/14 "2014-07-07T06:27:21Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/15 "2014-07-07T07:45:40Z")
Um… Adam. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/16 "2014-07-07T13:26:25Z")
[What is the furthest one human being has ever been from every other living person? Were they lonely?](http://what-if.xkcd.com/72/) ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-isolated-human-in-history/692467/17 "2014-07-08T06:15:21Z")
> [@Fishtar](#): > > …So best guess is this goofy Russian. > > [Dmitry Shparo - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Shparo) > > Who skied across the Arctic, alone, in the winter…in the dark. 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.