Robert Falcon Scott. Scott reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912, only to find that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had been the first one there 34 days before. Scott and his party perished on the return journey.
There was a race to the pole by the Norwegian team led by Amundsen and the British team led by Scott in an expedition called the Terra Nova Expedition. The expedition is famous for Scotts diary entrys, which he kept up daily until he was no longer able to write. His team reached the pole, but after Amundsens team, and all 5 of the men who went for the final expedition died on the way home. There's lots of famous quotes from the diary, like when one of the team named Oates, sacrificed himself, believing that the group would be able to move quicker without him. In the middle of a fierce blizzard he said to the others 'I'm just going outside, and I may be some time.' before he left the tent and walked out into the blizzard and died.
Its agreed that Scotts team had awful luck, the winter they were there was the coldest winter in Antarctica for decades, bringing with it terrible storms and blizzards that they were caught right in the middle off. The final spot in which the remaining men died was actually 24 miles further than the actual position of the supply depot, but because of the snow storms they were off course and so missed the depot. The final diary entry also includes an inspirational note.
The South pole was first explored by a Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his party. That happened on December 14, 1911. The second group to explore the South Pole was headed by Robert Falcon Scott. He had four people in his group. They reached the South Pole on 14 January, 1912. Unfortunately, on their way back the whole group died due to starvation and cold.
