Elisha Kent Kane (February 3, 1820 – February 16, 1857) was a United States Navy medical officer and Arctic explorer. He served as assistant surgeon during Caleb Cushing's journey to China to negotiate the Treaty of Wangxia and in the Africa Squadron. He was assigned as a special envoy to the United States Army during the Mexican–American War and as a surveyor in the U.S. Coast Survey. He was senior medical officer in the First Grinnell expedition to rescue or discover the fate of the explorer Sir John Franklin. He was credited with the discovery of an encampment and gravesite from Franklin's lost expedition on Beechey Island. He led the Second Grinnell expedition to the Arctic which was unsuccessful in discovering the fate of Franklin's expedition. His explorations of the Arctic went further North than any other expeditions at the time and led to the eventual path to the North Pole taken by subsequent explorers. He spoke frequently to large audiences about his Arctic expeditions. He published two books chronicling his explorations; The United States Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin: A Personal Narrative in 1856 and Arctic explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853,'54, '55 in 1857. Two United States Navy ships, a lunar crater and a waterway in the Arctic were named in his honor. Early life and education Kane was born in Philadelphia on February 3, 1820. He was the first son of John Kintzing Kane, a U.S. district judge, and Jane Duval Leiper. His maternal grandfather was Thomas Leiper, American Revolutionary War patriot and a founder of the Philadelphia City Troop. His brother was attorney, diplomat, abolitionist, and Civil War general, Thomas L. Kane. In 1837, Kane entered the University of Virginia in Charlottesville to study civil engineering. He worked closely with geology Professor William Barton Rogers and participated in several outings into the Blue Ridge Mountains to map geological formations. However, health concerns due to rheumatic fever forced him to withdraw from school and return home. His illness progressed to endocarditis and the family feared he would die. After recovering, concerned that the physical demands of civil engineering would be too much for his health, he turned to the study of medicine. On October 19, 1840, he became a resident physician at Blockley Almshouse while also studying at the University of Pennsylvania. In the Spring of 1841, he