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Christopher Columbus reached the Bahamas, marking the beginning of the European exploration and colonization of the Americas. This event was significant for initiating the Columbian Exchange and reshaping the world economically and culturally.

Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach India by sea, linking for the first time Europe and Asia via the Atlantic and Indian oceans, establishing the stage for Portuguese dominance in the Spice Trade later on.

Hernán Cortés led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire. This significant conquest had a major impact on the spread of Spanish culture and language in Central and South America.

Ferdinand Magellan's expedition completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, proving the world was round and much larger than previously thought, fundamentally changing European worldviews on global geography.

Jacques Cartier explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence and later claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River.

Sir Francis Drake was the second person to complete a circumnavigation of the globe in a single expedition. He was also involved in some of the earliest English slaving voyages and fought against the Spanish Armada.

Henry Hudson explored what is today the Hudson River in his quest to find a northwest passage to Asia. Although unsuccessful in finding the passage, his explorations laid groundwork for Dutch colonization of the region.

Abel Tasman was the first known European to reach the islands of Tasmania and New Zealand. His voyages were significant for mapping the coastlines of these lands, although he never landed on the New Zealand mainland.

Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette explored the upper Mississippi River, detailing valuable information about the region and confirming that the river flowed to the Gulf of Mexico, not the Pacific Ocean.

Captain James Cook made a series of voyages that led to European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, as well as the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States, providing valuable information about the geography, biology, ethnology, and ecology of the region.

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and explorer who conducted extensive explorations in Africa, advocating for the end of the slave trade and opening the heart of the continent to Christianity and trade.

Henry Morton Stanley was famous for his expeditions in search of David Livingstone and later efforts in exploring the Congo River Basin, which opened Central Africa up to European colonization and exploitation.

Roald Amundsen led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole ahead of Robert Falcon Scott. His expertise in polar conditions became a benchmark for future Antarctic expeditions and contributed to our understanding of extreme environments.

Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, were the first climbers confirmed to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Their achievement served as a testament to human endurance and perseverance.

Richard E. Byrd was an American naval officer who claimed to have flown over the North Pole in 1926 and led the first expedition to fly over the South Pole in 1929. His explorations established the feasibility of aircraft deployment in polar regions for scientific purposes.

Neil Armstrong was an American astronaut who became the first person to walk on the Moon as commander of the Apollo 11 mission. The Moon landing marked a new era in space exploration and a milestone in human achievement.

NASA's Viking 1 was the first spacecraft to land successfully on Mars and complete its mission. It provided the first detailed photos and scientific data on Martian soil and climate, paving the way for future Mars exploration.

Marie Curie, along with her husband Pierre, discovered radium and polonium, contributing significantly to the field of radioactivity. Her work laid the groundwork for advances in science and medicine, including cancer treatment.

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays, a form of electromagnetic radiation. This discovery revolutionized medical diagnosis and treatment, leading to his receipt of the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first true antibiotic. His discovery has saved countless lives by treating bacterial infections effectively and has had a profound impact on medicine and public health.

James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA, which is essential to understanding genetic information and heredity. This breakthrough laid the foundation for modern molecular biology and genetics.

Dmitri Mendeleev created the periodic table of elements, organizing elements by their atomic mass and chemical properties. This provided a framework for understanding elemental relationships and predicting new elements.

The Hubble Space Telescope, launched into low Earth orbit in 1990, has provided high-resolution images of space, leading to significant astronomical discoveries including the rate of expansion of the universe and insights into the early universe.

The Wright Brothers achieved the first successful powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft, which initiated the era of modern aviation and transformed transportation and military strategies globally.

Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, the principle behind the electric transformer and generator. This discovery marked one of the most significant milestones in the field of electromagnetism and ultimately led to the development of modern electrical power industries.

Sir Isaac Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, which laid the framework for classical mechanics and significantly influenced the Enlightenment's scientific revolution.

Galileo Galilei improved the telescope and made astronomical observations that supported the Copernican theory of a heliocentric system, challenging traditional cosmological views and contributing to the scientific revolution.

Charles Darwin established the theory of natural selection with his book 'On the Origin of Species,' which changed the understanding of evolution and the development of life on Earth, influencing biology, genetics, and anthropology.

Jonas Salk developed the first effective polio vaccine, leading to a drastic reduction in cases of poliomyelitis around the world and advancing the field of virology and vaccine development.

Gregor Mendel discovered the basic principles of heredity through experiments in his garden with pea plants. He described the laws of inheritance that bear his name, forming the foundation of modern genetics.

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, an internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing, which became fundamental to the Internet’s development and revolutionized how people communicate and access information.

Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment demonstrating that lightning is electricity, which significantly contributed to the understanding of electrical conduction and the development of lightning rods.