While the existence of Antarctica was not confirmed until the nineteenth century, early Greek geographers believed there must be a large land mass around the south pole to balance the known land in the northern hemisphere. They named it opposite of the Arctic: the Anti-Arkitkos or Antarctica. Throughout the age of exploration, the search for Antarctica was perhaps the greatest adventure of all.

Discovery	See An Antarctic Time Line
1772-1775	Captain James Cook (Great Britain) During his voyage through the Pacific Captain Cook made the first circumnavigation of Antarctica and crossed the Antarctic Circle in three places. Although he penetrated to the farthest south latitude known at the time (71° 10' S, 106° 54'W), Cook never spotted the continent.
1820-1821	Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer (US) As captain of the Hero, Nathaniel Palmer made the first sighting of the Antarctic continent just below South America. This area later became known at Palmer Peninsula.
1821-1824	Captain James Weddell (Great Britain) Captain Weddell cruised around the South Orkneys and South Shetland islands and found a deep bay east of Palmer Peninsula now known as the Weddell Sea.
1839-1843	Sir James Clark Ross (Great Britain) In searching for the south magnetic pole, Ross found and named Cape Adare and the huge ice shelf that now bears his name.
1894-1895	Carstens Egeberg Borchgrevink (Norway) This party went ashore at Cape Adare and is credited with making the first landing on the Antarctic mainland.

Exploration
1901-1904	Captain Robert F. Scott (Great Britain) From a base established at Ross Island, Scott conducted scientific observations and made several sledge journeys toward the south pole. It was during this expedition that Scott made the first balloon ascent in Antarctica and verified the existence of vast glaciers extending south.
1908-1909	Sir Ernest Shackleton (Great Britain) From a base at McMurdo Sound, Shackleton and a crew of scientists that included Edgeworth David and Douglas Mawson, made the first ascent of Mount Erebus. In an attempt to reach the south pole, Shackleton discovered Beardmore Glacier and found evidence of coal on the continent.
1910-1912	Captain Roald Amundsen (Norway) Leaving its base at the Bay of Whales on the west side of the Ross Ice Shelf, Amundsen's party made the first successful attempt to reach the south pole on December 11, 1911.
1910-1913	Captain Robert F. Scott (Great Britain) From the other side of the Ross Ice Shelf, Scott also made an attempt to reach the pole arriving there on January 17, 1912 just five weeks after Amundsen. Scott and his party of four died on the return journey.
1914-1916	Sir Ernest Shackleton (Great Britain) Setting out for Antarctica to cross the continent coast-to-coast by sledge, Shackleton's Endurance was caught in the ice where they drifted until it was crushed. The crew made it to land while a small party sailed to South Georgia. Everyone was eventually rescued.
1928-1930	Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd (US) Byrd made the first flight over the south pole to test new techniques in aerial photography which enhanced the ability to survey and map the continent.
1957-1958	Vivian Fuchs (Great Britain) Following Shackleton's 1914 coast-to-coast plan, Fuchs made the 2,200 mile (3,500) km journey across Antarctica from the Weddell to the Ross Sea via the south pole in 99 days using sno-cats and air support.

Today, scientists travel to Antarctica to study in its unique laboratory. More than 3,000 people each year work on research vessels or at the main stations and field camps throughout the continent as part of ongoing research projects. They study everything from the depths of the oceans to the endless expanse of the universe. Ice core research analyzes the gases and other materials trapped in the ice to tell us about Antarctica's climate and environment during earlier centuries.

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