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250
BC Eratosthenes
He was the first person to use the word "geography" and invented the discipline of geography as we understand it. He invented a system of latitude and longitude. -
325
BC Pytheas
He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe at about 325 BC -
Jan 4, 700
Venerable Bede
An English historian figured out that the moon controlled the tides. -
Jan 4, 1000
Greenland and America
The Vikings discover Greenland and America, although their voyages are largely unrecorded and they left no permanent settlements. -
Jan 4, 1100
Compass
A compass is a navigational instrument for determining direction relative to the Earth's magnetic poles. It consists of a magnetized pointer (usually marked on the North end) free to align itself with Earth's magnetic field. The compass greatly improved the safety and efficiency of travel, especially ocean travel. -
Jan 4, 1200
Ship Rudder
Normans invent ship's rudder. A rudder operates by redirecting the fluid past the hull or fuselage, thus imparting a turning or yawing motion to the craft. In basic form, a rudder is a flat plane or sheet of material attached with hinges to the craft's stern, tail or after end -
Jan 4, 1415
Prince Henry the Navigator
Funded explorations. -
Jan 4, 1519
Ferdinand Magellan
Magellan's expedition of 1519–1522 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean (then named "peaceful sea" by Magellan; the passage being made via the Strait of Magellan), and the first to cross the Pacific. It also completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage, being killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines. -
James Cook
Cook charted many areas and recorded several islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. His achievements can be attributed to a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, courage in exploring dangerous locations to confirm the facts (for example dipping into the Antarctic Circle repeatedly and exploring around the Great Barrier Reef), an ability to lead men in adverse conditions, and boldness both with regard to the extent of his explorations and his -
Benjamin Franklin
He contributed to oceanography in the mid- to late 1700s by making and compiling good observations of ocean currents off the US East Coast -
Matthew Fountaine Maury
Maury made many important new contributions to charting winds and ocean currents, including ocean lanes for passing ships at sea -
Challenger Expedition
It was the first expedition organized specifically to gather data on a wide range of ocean features, including ocean temperatures seawater chemistry, currents, marine life, and the geology of the seafloor. -
SONAR
Sonar (originally an acronym for SOund Navigation And Ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in Submarine navigation) to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels -
Invention of the Bathysphere
In use, the bathysphere was suspended from a one-inch (2.54 cm) cable, and a solid rubber hose carried an electrical supply and telephone wires which were the occupants' only means of communication with the surface. The entire apparatus, including the cable and associated lines, weighed approximately 10,000 pounds (4,536 kg) submerged -
Ptolemy
Ptolemy's other main work is his Geographia. This also is a compilation of what was known about the world's geography in the Roman Empire during his time. He relied somewhat on the work of an earlier geographer, Marinos of Tyre, and on gazetteers of the Roman and ancient Persian Empire, but most of his sources beyond the perimeter of the Empire were unreliable.
