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236
Erastosthenes
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
Pytheas
He travelled around and visited a considerable part of Great Britain. Some of his observations may be the earliest report of Stonehenge -
356
Alexander the Great
the King of Macedonia and conqueror of the Persian Empire is considered one of the greatest military geniuses of all times. He was inspiration for later conquerors such as Hannibal the Carthaginian, the Romans Pompey and Caesar, and Napoleon. -
Jun 3, 1415
Prince Henry the Navigator
It is a common misconception that Henry gathered at his villa on the Sagres peninsula a school of navigators and map-makers. He did employ some cartographers to chart the coast of Mauritania after the voyages he sent there, but there was no center of navigation science or observatory in the modern sense of the word, nor was there an organized navigational center. -
Jun 3, 1490
SONAR
is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in Submarine navigation) to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels. Two types of technology share the name "sonar": passive sonar is essentially listening for the sound made by vessels; active sonar is emitting pulses of sounds and listening for echoes. Sonar may be used as a means of acoustic location and of measurement of the echo characteristics of "targets" in the water. -
Jun 3, 1492
Columbus
was a navigator, colonizer, and explorer from the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy, whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere. -
Jun 3, 1497
Vasco da Gama
led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon. The distance traveled in the journey around Africa to India and back was greater than around the equator. -
Jun 3, 1505
Ferdinand Magellan
He was the first explorer to lead an expedition around the world. -
James Cook
was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands as well as the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. -
Benjamin Franklin
His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and status as one of America's most influential Founding Fathers, have seen Franklin honored on coinage and money; warships; the names of many towns, counties, educational institutions, namesakes, and companies; and more than two centuries after his death, countless cultural references -
Ferdinand Hassler
founder of the United States Coast Survey, lived his life by the precept that it was “the duty of every man to be honest and to do good.” Hassler’s philosophy of life is as pertinent today as it was nearly 200 years ago and serves as a driving force for the men and women engaged in ocean exploration and other scientific endeavors. -
Matthew Maury
In 1825 at age 19, Maury joined the United States Navy as a midshipman on board the frigate Brandywine. Almost immediately he began to study the seas and record methods of navigation. When a leg injury left him unfit for sea duty, Maury devoted his time to the study of navigation, meteorology, winds, and currents. His hard work on and love of plotting the oceans paid off when he became Superintendent of the Naval Observatory and head of the Depot of Charts and Instruments. -
Challenger Expedition
The "Challenger espedition of 1872-76 was a scientific exercise that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography.The expedition was named after the mother vessel,HMS Challenger.Challenger from Royal Navy an din 1872 modified the ship for scientific work , equipping her with seperate commanded by Captain George Nares, sailed from Portsmouth, England, on 21 December 1872.Under the scientific supervision of Thomson himself,she travelled nearly surveying and exploring. -
Bathysphere
The sphere was fitted with 3-inch-thick (76 mm) windows made of fused quartz, the strongest transparent material then available, and had a 400-pound entrance hatch which was bolted down before a descent. Oxygen was supplied from a high-pressure cylinder carried inside the sphere, while electric fans circulated the air over pans of soda lime to absorb exhaled CO2 and calcium chloride to absorb moisture. -
Ptolemy
He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet (of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology).
