Antarctica

Captain James Cook

1773

In January, Captain James Cook crossed the Antarctic Circle and circumnavigated Antarctica, though he doesn't sight land, rock was seen in icebergs showed that a southern continent exists.

Captain Thaddeus Bellingshausen

1819

Captain Thaddeus Bellingshausen a Russian naval officer in the Vostok and Mirny circumnavigated the Antarctic, first to cross the Antarctic circle since Cook.
He made the first sighting of the continent, describing an "icefield covered with small hillocks." on Jan 27th, 1820.
For some time, exactly who and when first set eyes on Antarctica were in dispute.
This was the first time a continent had truly been "discovered

James Clark Ross

1840

in 1840, British naval officer and scientist James Clark Ross took two ships to within 80 miles of the coast until stopped by a massive ice barrier - now called the Ross Ice Shelf. He also discovered the active volcano that he names after his ship Erebus and identified 145 new species of fish.

Adrien de Gerlache

1898

March. Adrien de Gerlache and the crew of the "Belgica" became trapped in some ice off the Antarctic Peninsula in the first scientific expedition to the continent. They became the first to survive an Antarctic winter as their ship drifted with the ice (they didn't enjoy it).

Douglas Mawson

1909

January, Australian Douglas Mawson reached the South Magnetic Pole.

Douglas Mawson

1912

December. Douglas Mawson began his trek across George V Land back to his base at Commonwealth Bay. His two companions had died, and against all odds, he made it home. A new section of coast was discovered and described, and radio was used for the first time in Antarctica