Robert Falcon Scott

1868 – 1912

Captain Robert Falcon Scott was a British Royal Navy officer who led two pioneering Antarctic expeditions, the Discovery expedition of 1901–04 and the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition of 1910–13. On 17 January 1912 he reached the South Pole with four companions, only to discover that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen's party had arrived five weeks earlier; all five British men perished on the return march, with Scott's diary recovered eight months later. The scientific specimens his team collected on the journey, retrieved alongside their bodies, made lasting contributions to Antarctic geology and biology.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM