Captain Robert Scott

The Discovery trip of 1901–1904 and the tragic Terra Nova mission of 1910–1913 were both conducted by Captain Robert Scott, a Royal Navy commander, and explorer. He is one of the most important historical figures in United Kingdom. During the first trip, he discovered the Antarctic Plateau, which is where the South Pole is located, and set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S. Less than five weeks after Amundsen's South Pole mission, on January 17, 1912, Scott led a team of five to the South Pole on the second voyage.

Despite Scott's written orders, a rendezvous with supporting dog teams from the base camp did not go as anticipated. Scott and his colleagues died at a distance of 162 miles (261 km) from their base camp at Hut Point and roughly 12.5 miles (20 km) from the next depot. The first ever discovered Antarctic fossils were in Scott and his group's possession when their bodies were found. It was discovered that the fossils came from the Glossopteris tree, demonstrating that Antarctica was previously covered in forest and connected to other continents.