Navigation and History of Science: The Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition

Abstract

In 1910, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, a member of the Royal Navy, sailed on his second attempt (he had  previously led another expedition in 1901) to reach the South Pole. Two years later, on January 18, 1912,  after a dangerous crossing through the frozen plains of Antarctica, Scott and four companions arrived at  their destination, only to discover that the rival Norwegian expedition, commanded by Amundsen, had  defeated them for thirty and five days apart. They found the Amundsen’s tent not yet covered by snow. In  this article we focus on the story of the "loser", a story full of pain that ended in sleeping bags covered  with snow in which there were several died men and a Scott’s handwritten note: The English still know  how to die with gallantry, fighting until the end. Negative results, not positive, that's what this heroic story  is about.