The four most important Antarctic explorers were probably Roald Amundsen, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Robert Falcon Scott, and Richard E. Byrd.
The first confirmed sighting of the continent is commonly accepted to occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottieb von Bellingshausen.
The next explorer, Robert Falcon Scott, and Roald Amundsen were racing to the south pole. Their teams started at different points and got there at different times. The first one to get there was Amundsen, and five weeks later, Scott got there. Scott's team died on there way back to their ship because they were wearing wool instead of heavy down parkas. Amundsen's team wore heavy down parkas and made it back to their homes. It was a very long and difficult journey, and it took them almost two years to do it. They were traveling by foot, on sled, and in their ships for over 2000 miles!