Four things Captain Scott found in Antarctica (and one that found him)

Four things Captain Scott found in Antarctica (and one that found him)
The camp at Mount Buckley, taken on return journey from South Pole - from David Wilson's book The Lost Photographs of Captain Scout (Little, Brown) Captain Scott took this photo not long before he died
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A century ago, Captain Robert Scott and his team set out on a doomed race to be first to the South Pole. They failed in this quest - but that wasn't all they were doing in this mysterious ice-bound land.

It is an expedition best known for its failure. Not only did a Norwegian rival beat Captain Scott to the South Pole, but his five-man team died on the return journey.
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Captain Robert Falcon Scott
Scott's tent on display in 1913. Sign reads: "The actual Tent in which the Bodies of Captain Scott and his Companions were found by the Search Party."

* Born June 1868 - first served at sea aged 13
* Led two British expeditions to Antarctica, 1901-04 and 1910-12
* Set off for South Pole on 1 Nov 1911, reaching it Jan 1912 - a month behind his rival Amundsen
* His five-man party died in March 1912 on return journey, 11 miles short of a supply depot
* Bodies recovered eight months later - in the tent pictured in an exhibition above - with notebooks, letters, photos and specimens

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Found in the tent alongside their frozen bodies were 16kg (35lb) of fossils, a meteorological log, scores of notes, and rolls of film taken by Scott himself.

The dying explorers thought these too valuable to jettison, even though lightening their load could have played a part in the life and death struggle after weeks of travelling in temperatures below -37C (-35F).

Scott's expedition had a dual purpose - to reach the Pole for the British Empire, and to explore and document this great southern land.

This was in answer to a challenge laid down at the International Geographical Congress in 1895, which called the Antarctic "the greatest piece of geographical exploration still to be undertaken", and one which would result in "additions to knowledge in almost every branch of science".

In the late 19th Century, Antarctica was a large - and largely blank - space on the map. No-one was even sure if it was a continent or collection of icy islands.

Scott first led an expedition to the region in 1901, and returned a decade later with a young and hungry team of experts - including, for the first time, a professional photographer - to collect a treasure trove of specimens, data and observations for analysis on their return.

Just a handful of his 38-man team set off for the Pole on that final ill-fated journey. The remainder continued their research around base camp and beyond.

Gathered to answer the pressing questions of their day, these findings continue to shed light on the pressing scientific questions of our day too.

Here are four of their key discoveries (besides the Pole) - and one thing that found them.

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