Chris Moss remembers the endeavours and eccentricities of early 20th-century explorers 12 January 2021 • 1:33pm Geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor and meteorologist Charles Wright in the entrance to an ice grotto during Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova Expedition Credit: Getty The Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration dates from the International Geographical Congress held in London in 1895, which issued the following resolution: “That this congress record its opinion that the exploration of the Antarctic Regions is the greatest piece of geographical exploration still to be undertaken.” The Discovery Expedition of 1901-04, known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition, propelled its leader, Robert Falcon Scott, to the forefront of polar expedition and launched the careers of Ernest Shackleton, Frank Wild, Edward Wilson, Tom Crean and William Lashly.