😕 Often Confused Trivial Knowledge 😕

≪ Return to Trivial Studies     📚 Henry Fielding (1707-1754) - English dramatist known for humor and satire. Also important to law enforcement; as a magistrate founded what some have called London's first police force, the Bow Street Runners. "Tom Jones" (1749) 📚 Henry James (1843-1916) - Born in NY, settled in London. Wrote about interplay between Americans, English, continental Europeans. "The Portrait of a Lady" (1881), "The Wings of the Dove" (1902), and "The Ambassadors" (1903) 📚 Henry Miller (1891-1980) - Born in NY, lived in Paris & California. Wrote semi-autobiographical novels banned due to explicit language and sex. "Tropic of Cancer" (1934), "Black Spring" (1936), "Tropic of Capricorn" (1939), and "The Rosy Crucifixion" trilogy (1949-1959)   🎭 Arthur Miller (1915-2005) - Lived in NY. Pulitzer and Two-time Tony winner - "Death of a Salesman" (1949) & "The Crucible" (1953). Wrote screenplay to "The Misfits" (1961) for then wife Marilyn Monroe (last completed film for both Marilyn and Clark Gable). 📚 Norman Mailer (1923-2007) - Lived in NY. American novelist. First popular work was "The Naked and the Dead" (1948). Won the Pulitzer for non-fiction for "Armies of the Night" (1968) and for fiction for "The Executioner's Song" (1979). Co-founded "The Village Voice" in 1955. 📚 Truman Capote (1924-1984) - He was a childhood friend with Harper Lee who helped him with interviews for "In Cold Blood" (1966). Also wrote "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1958). Along with Mailer, Joan Didion, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe, he was an innovator of creative nonfiction. 📺 Norman Lear (1922-Present) - American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as "All in the Family", "Sanford and Son", "One Day at a Time", "The Jeffersons", "Good Times", and "Maude".   📚 William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) - American writer known for "Naked Lunch" and "Junkie" - famously alcoholic and drug-addicted, and shot and killed his second wife in what was described as a "drunken attempt at a William Tell stunt". 📚 Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) - American writer of popular and pulp fiction, creator of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. Wrote over 80 novels. 📚 Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) - American writer, creator of Conan the Barbarian. Tragically committed suicide at age 30, while his creation lived on to eventual great success.   📚 Willa Cather (1873-1947) - American writer who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, including "O Pioneers!" (1913), "The Song of the Lark" (1915), and "My Ántonia" (1918). Won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for "One of Ours" (1922). 📚 Carson McCullers (1917-1967) - "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" (1940) explores the spiritual isolation of outcasts in U.S. South. Her other novels have similar themes and mostly are set in the deep South. She suffered from several illnesses and alcoholism. 📚 Cormac McCarthy (1933-Present) - He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and post-apocalyptic genres. Won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for "The Road" (2006). Also wrote "Blood Meridian" (1985), "All the Pretty Horses" (1992), and "No Country for Old Men" (2005).   📚 Edith Wharton (1862-1937) - Drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper class New York "aristocracy" to portray the Gilded Age. First woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. "The House of Mirth" (1905), "Ethan Frome" (1911), and "The Age of Innocence" (1921) 📚 Eudora Welty (1909-2001) - Wrote about the American South. "The Optimist's Daughter" (1972) won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Her house in Jackson, Mississippi has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. 📚 Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) - English writer. He is recognized as one of the great prose stylists of the English language in the 20th century. "Decline and Fall" (1928), "A Handful of Dust" (1934), "Brideshead Revisited" (1945), and the WWII trilogy "Sword of Honour" (1952-61).   📚 Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) - American writer. Wrote muck raking novels such as "The Jungle" (1906) which exposed labor and sanitary conditions in the U.S. meatpacking industry. Also wrote "Oil!" (1927) and "Dragon's Teeth" (1942) which won the Pulitzer for Fiction. 📚 Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) - First writer from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Known for insightful and critical views of American capitalism and materialism between the wars. First name Harry. "Babbitt" (1922), "Arrowsmith" (1925) 📚 C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) - Clive Staples Lewis. British writer and lay theologian. Best known for his works of fiction, especially "The Screwtape Letters" (1942, dedicated to his friend Tolkien) and "The Chronicles of Narnia" (1950-56). 📚 Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) - Born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Lived for most of his life as a scholar and teacher at Christ Church, Oxford. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865), "Through the Looking-Glass" (1871), and nonsense poems "Jabberwocky" (in "Looking Glass") and "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876).   📚 John Keats (1795-1821) - English Romantic poet. One of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Died of TB at 25. Shelley's "Adonais" was written about his death. "Ode to a Nightingale", "Sleep and Poetry", "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer". 📚 William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) - Irish nationalist and Senator of the Irish Free State. Helped to found the Abbey Theatre. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923. "The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems" (1889)   📚 E. M. Forster (1879-1970) - English novelist. Edward Morgan Forster. Many of his novels examined class difference and hypocrisy, including "A Room with a View" (1908), "Howards End" (1910) and "A Passage to India" (1924). Was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 16 different years; never won. 📚 C. S. Forester (1899-1966) - English novelist. Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester. Known for tales of naval warfare, such as the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic wars. Also wrote "The African Queen" (1935, filmed in 1951 by John Huston).   📚 John Bunyan (1628-1688) - English writer and Puritan preacher. Wrote the Christian allegory "The Pilgrim's Progress" (1678). Also wrote a spiritual autobiography "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" (1666). 📚 John Updike (1932-2009) - American novelist. One of only three writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner). "Rabbit, Run" (1960). "Rabbit Is Rich" (1982) and "Rabbit at Rest" (1990) won the Prizes. 📚 John Irving (1942-Present) - American novelist. Won Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for "The Cider House Rules" (1999). "The World According to Garp" (1978), "The Cider House Rules" (1985), and "A Prayer for Owen Meany" (1989).   📚 William Golding (1911-1993) - British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for "Lord of the Flies" (1954). Won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1983). Also wrote "Rites of Passage" (1980), first book in his sea trilogy "To the Ends of the Earth". 📚 William Goldman (1931-2018) - American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. Won Academy Awards for his screenplays "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) and "All the President's Men" (1976). Other works include his thriller "Marathon Man" (1974) and "The Princess Bride" (1973).   📚 Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) - Born into a prominent Amherst, Massachusetts family. Fewer than a dozen of her nearly 1,800 poems were published during her lifetime. They contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme and unconventional capitalization & punctuation. 🗽 Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) - American poet. Wrote the sonnet "The New Colossus" (1883) which is inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, installed in 1903. 📚 Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) - American poet and playwright. Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923 for "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" and was the third woman to win the award for poetry. Used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work.   🎶 Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) - DC lawyer (worked on Burr conspiracy trial) who wrote the poem which later became the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland in 1814, part of the War of 1812. The poem was adapted to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven." 📚 F. Scott Fitzgerald (1878-1968) - A distant cousin of Francis Scott Key. American writer who illustrated the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age. "The Great Gatsby" (1925), "Tender Is the Night " (1934), "The Last Tycoon" (unfinished, published posthumously, 1941)   🎭 Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) - Irish poet and playwright. Received a criminal conviction for homosexuality, was imprisoned, and died at age 46. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890), "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1895), and "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" (1898) 🎭 Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) - American playwright and novelist. Won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" (1927), and plays "Our Town" (1938) and "The Skin of Our Teeth" (1942).   ⛪ Thomas Becket (1119-1170) - Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry II. There was a dispute because Henry wanted to extend his authority over the Church. Four of Henry's barons killed Becket in the Canterbury Cathedral. ⛪ Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) - Saint from Aquino, Italy. Influential philosopher and theologian. Embraced the ideas of Aristotle. Wrote "Summa Theologiae" (1485). ⛪ Thomas More (1478-1535) - Councillor to Henry VIII. Refused to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, convicted of treason, and executed. Wrote the satire "Utopia" describing a fictional island society in the south Atlantic Ocean (which also coined the "utopia"). ⛪ Thomas Wolsey (1473-1530) - Archbishop of York, Lord Chancellor of England. After failing to negotiate an annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Wolsey fell out of favour and was stripped of his government titles. Died from natural causes. ⛪ Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) - Leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. Helped build the case for the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon 🏰 Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540) - One of the strongest and most powerful proponents of the English Reformation. English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540, when he was decapitated on orders of the king. 🏰 Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) - Descended from Thomas Cromwell. Served as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth following the Second English Civil War and execution of Charles I. After his death, when Royalists returned to power, Charles II had his head placed on a spike above Westminster Hall for many years.   ⛪ John Calvin (1509-1564) - French theologian and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. A principal figure in the development of Calvinism, aspects of which include the doctrines of predestination and the absolute sovereignty of God. ⛪ John Knox (1513-1572) - Scottish theologian and writer - leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. He was in exile in England for a time where rose to the rank of royal chaplain of King Edward VI, and later learned from Calvin before returning to Scotland. ⛪ John Wesley (1703-1791) - English theologian and evangelist who led a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Methodist movement that continues to present. 📚 John Locke (1632-1704) - English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism". His theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self.   📚 "The Portrait of a Lady" - Henry James, 1881 - A spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who, in "confronting her destiny", finds it overwhelming. 📚 "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - Oscar Wilde, 1890 - "Dorian Gray" expresses the desire to sell his soul to ensure that his portrait, rather than he, will age and fade. 📚 "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" - James Joyce, 1916 - Young Stephen Dedalus, a fictional alter-ego of Joyce, rebels against the Catholic and Irish conventions under which he has grown, culminating in his self-exile from Ireland to Europe.   📚 "Pride and Prejudice" Jane Austen, 1812 - Follows the development of protagonist Elizabeth Bennet and her relationship with Mr Darcy during the Regency era in Great Britain. 📚 "Wuthering Heights" Emily Brontë, 1847 - Emily Brontë's only novel. Gothic fiction, narrated by Nelly Dean, which tells Heathcliff's story at Wuthering Heights (Mr. Earnshaw's farmhouse on the moors), and his relationship with Catherine Earnshaw, her groom Edgar Linton, and others. 📚 "Jane Eyre" Charlotte Brontë, 1847 - Follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr. Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.   📚 "Robinson Crusoe" Daniel Defoe, 1719 - Presented as an autobiography of Crusoe, born Robinson Kreutznaer, castaway 28 years on an island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers, before ultimately being rescued. Based on real-life experience of Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk. 📚 "Treasure Island" Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883 - Told from the first-person point of view of Jim Hawkins who finds a map, gets a ship, and sails for treasure with pirate "Long John" Silver who mutinees when they reach the island. 📚 "Kidnapped" Robert Louis Stevenson, 1886 - set around real 18th-century Scottish events in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745. David Balfour is oprhaned, then sold by his Uncle Ebenezer to Captain Hoseason who plans to sell him as a slave in the Carolinas, but not before a shipwreck strands him.   📚 "Vanity Fair" (1848) - British novel (originally in serial form) by William Makepeace Thackeray, about society folk during the Napoleonic Wars. 📰 "Vanity Fair" (1983-Present) - American magazine about pop culture and current affairs. Also the name of several earlier periodicals in both the US and Britain. 📚 "Bonfire of the Vanities" (1987) - American novel (also originally in serial form) by Tom Wolfe, about greed and ambition on Wall Street in the 1980s. Also a 1990 film. 🔥 Bonfire of the Vanities (1497) - Actual historical event in Florence, Italy, that lent its name to the above novel. Fra Savonarola and supporters set fire to thousands of works of art and literature, even mirrors and cosmetics and clothing, that were perceived to be sinful or contributing to thoughts of sin.   📺 "Laverne & Shirley" - ABC, '76-'83 - A spin-off of "Happy Days", starred Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, two friends and roommates who work as bottle-cappers in the fictitious Shotz Brewery in late 1950s Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 📺 "Cagney & Lacey" - CBS, '82-'88 - Starred Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly as New York City police detectives in Manhattan's 14th Precinct. The two won the Best Actress, Drama Emmy 6 straight years (4x Daly, 2x for Gless). 📺 "Kate & Allie" - CBS, '84-'89 - Starred Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin as two divorced women, both with children, who decide to share a brownstone in New York City's Greenwich Village.   📺 "The View" - ABC - Conceived by Barbara Walters in 1997. 22 Seasons. Hosts include: Barbara Walters, Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Rosie O'Donnell, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, Jenny McCarthy, Rosie Perez, Raven-Symoné, Candace Cameron Bure, and Meghan McCain. 📺 "The Talk" - CBS - Created by Sara Gilbert in 2010. 9 Seasons. Hosts include: Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Leah Remini, Holly Robinson Peete, Aisha Tyler, Sheryl Underwood, Eve, and Carrie Ann Inaba. 📺 "The Chew" - ABC - Centered on food and lifestyle topics. Aired 2011-2018. 7 Seasons. Hosts include: Mario Batali, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, Daphne Oz, and Michael Symon. 📺 "The Real" - FOX - Designed in 2013 to appeal to young inner-city and minority females. 5 Seasons. Hosts include: Adrienne Houghton, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai, Tamera Mowry-Housley, and Tamar Braxton.   🕺 George Balanchine (1904-1983) - Born in St. Petersburg, Russia. One of the most influential 20th century choreographers. Styled as the father of American ballet, he co-founded the New York City Ballet and remained its Artistic Director for more than 35 years. 🕺 Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948-Present) - Born in Riga, Latvia (then USSR). Danced with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad before defecting to Canada in 1974. Joined the NYC Ballet to learn George Balanchine's style of movement. Had a significant role in the last season of "Sex and the City".   🎶 Franz Schubert (1797-1828) - Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Major works include the "Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759" (Unfinished Symphony), the "Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667" (Trout Quintet), and the opera "Fierrabras". 🎶 Robert Schumann (1810-1856) - German Romantic composer. Composed piano and orchestral works. Best-known works include "Carnaval", "Symphonic Studies", "Kinderszenen", "Kreisleriana", and the "Fantasie in C".   🎸 The Byrds - Los Angeles, 1964 - Original lineup: Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke. Inducted into RnR HoF in 1991. Hits include "Mr. Tambourine Man" (1965, pop version of Dylan song), "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (1965), and "Eight Miles High" (1966). 🎸 The Yardbirds - London, 1963 - Started careers of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. Inducted into RnR HoF in 1992. Hits include "For Your Love" (1965), "Heart Full of Soul" (1965), "Evil Hearted You" (1965), and "Shapes of Things" (1966).   🔱 Athena - Greek - Goddess associated with wisdom, handicraft, and warfare. Believed to have been born from the head of her father Zeus. Plays an active role in the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey". The Parthenon on the Acropolis is dedicated to her. Roman equivalent is Minerva. 🔱 Artemis - Greek - Goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, the Moon, and chastity. Daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin sister of Apollo. Her temple at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Roman equivalent is Diana.   🌊️ Johnstown - Pennsylvania, May 31, 1889 - Flooded due to failure of the South Fork Dam on the Little Conemaugh River 14 miles upstream of the town. According to estimates 2,209 people lost their lives. 📿 Jonestown - Guyana, November 18, 1978 - Peoples Temple Agricultural Project. Remote cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. In total, 918 individuals died, mostly from cyanide poisoning, following the killing of Congressman Leo Ryan, Dem. CA. ⛵ Jamestown - Virginia, May 4, 1607 - First permanent English settlement in North America. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort". Served as the capital of the colony of Virginia until 1699.   🚣 John Smith - (1580-1631) - Played an important role in the establishment of Jamestown. Trained the first settlers to farm and work, thus saving the colony from early devastation. Saved from death at the hand of Powhatan by his daughter, Pocahontas. 🚣 John Rolfe - (1585-1622) - Arrived in Jamestown 1610 after a brief time on Bermuda. Married Pocahontas in 1614. Credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia.   🚕 Peter Minuet - (1580/85-1638) - Director & Governor of the Dutch colony of New Netherland (1626-1631), and also founded the Swedish colony of New Sweden on the Delaware Peninsula (1638). Generally credited with purchasing Manhattan from the Lenape for $24 in trinkets in 1626. 🚕 Peter Stuyvesant - (1610-1672) - Last Dutch director-general of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded to the English in 1664. Built the wall at Wall Street and helped expand New Amsterdam beyond the southern tip of Manhattan.   🌽 Pocahontas - (1596-1617) - Daughter of Powhatan. Saved the life of John Smith in 1607. Captured by the English and held for ransom in 1613. Converted to Christianity, taking the name Rebecca, prior to marrying John Rolfe in 1614. Died in England in 1617; buried there. 🌽 Sacagawea - (1788-1812) - Lemhi Shoshone woman known for her helping Lewis and Clark. Traveled with them from North Dakota to the Pacific. Helped establish cultural contacts with Native Americans. Buried at Fort Washakie, Wyoming. Sacagawea dollar coin first issued in 2000.   🏕️ Daniel Boone - (1734-1820) - American pioneer whose exploits made him one of the first US folk heroes. Famous for exploration; he blazed his Wilderness Road from North Carolina to help settle what is now Kentucky. Militia officer during the Revolutionary War. 🏕️ Davy Crockett - (1786-1836) - Also an early US folk hero. Commonly referred to as the "King of the Wild Frontier". Represented Tennessee in the House and served in the Texas Revolution where he was killed at the Battle of the Alamo. Opposed many of the policies of President Andrew Jackson, a fellow Tennesseean.   🏛️ Stephen Austin - (1793-1836) - Known as the "Father of Texas". Led the first successful colonization by bringing 300 families from the US to the Texas region of Mexico in 1825. Led forces during the Texas Revolution. Ran in the 1836 Texas presidential election but was defeated by Sam Houston. 🏛️ Sam Houston - (1793-1863) - An important leader of the Texas Revolution - led forces at the Battle of San Jacinto, the war's decisive battle. Governor of Tennessee (1827-29), 1st & 3rd president of the Republic of Texas (1836-39, 1841-44), Senator from Texas (1846-59), Governor of Texas (1859-61).   🇲🇽 Santa Anna - (1794-1876) - Antonio López de Santa Anna - Mexican politician and general who fought to defend royalist New Spain and then fought for Mexican independence. On March 6th, 1836, at the Battle of the Alamo, Santa Anna's forces killed 189 Texan defenders. 🇲🇽 Benito Juárez - (1806-1872) - President of Mexico from 1858-1872. Held power during the tumultuous decade of the Liberal Reform and French invasion. Never relinquished power when forced into exile by the French - maintained that he was the legitimate head of state, rather than Emperor Maximilian. 🇲🇽 Porfirio Díaz - (1830-1915) - Mexican general who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, between 1877 and 1911. Revolted against Juárez on the principle of no re-election, served a single term, then ran again in 1884 after abandoning the idea of no-relection. 🇲🇽 Pancho Villa - (1878-1923) - Francisco "Pancho" Villa - One of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution. Was in alliance with southern revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. Led a raid against a small U.S.–Mexican border town. He also starred as himself in Hollywood films. 🇲🇽 Emeliano Zapata - (1879-1919) - The main leader of the peasant revolution in the state of Morelos, and the inspiration of the agrarian movement called Zapatismo. He remains an iconic figure in Mexico, used both as a nationalist symbol.   💀 Margaret Meade - (1901-1978) - American cultural anthropologist. A communicator of anthropology in modern American and Western culture. Her reports detailing sex in South Pacific and Southeast Asian traditional cultures influenced the 1960s sexual revolution. 💀 Mary Leakey - (1913-1996) - British paleoanthropologist. Worked with her husband Louis at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania where they uncovered fossils of ancient hominines and stone tools. Son Richard is also a paleoanthropologist. 🦍 Dian Fossey - (1932-1985) - American primatologist and conservationist known for studying mountain gorilla groups in Rwanda from 1966 until her 1985 murder. Wrote "Gorillas in the Mist" (1983). Somewhat militant; supposedly kidnapped a child and tortured poachers to save gorillas. 🐒 Jane Goodall - (1934-Present) - English primatologist and anthropologist. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees. Known for her over 55-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees since she first went to Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania in 1960.   🧭 Roald Amundsen - (1872-1928) - Norwegian explorer of polar regions. First to successfully reach the South Pole (December 14th, 1911). On May 12, 1926, in the airship Norge, became the first verified to have reached the North Pole. 🧭 Robert Scott - (1868-1912) - Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions. On the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on January 17th, 1912, less than five weeks after Amundsen. 🚣‍♂️ Ernest Shackleton - (1874-1922) - Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. Most famous exploit is his leadership of a voyage in lifeboats to South Georgia after his ship, Endurance, was crushed. 🧭 Frederick Cook - (1865-1940) - American explorer who claimed to have reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908. In December 1909, after reviewing Cook's limited records, a commission of the University of Copenhagen ruled his claim unproven. 🧭 Robert Peary - (1856-1920) - American naval officer who made several expeditions to the Arctic. Claims to have reached the geographic North Pole with his expedition on April 6, 1909. It is now accepted that he did not reach it. ✈️ Richard E. Byrd - (1888-1957) - American naval officer and explorer. Claimed that his expeditions had been the first to reach both the North Pole (1926) and the South Pole (1929) by air. His claim to have reached the North Pole is disputed.   ☄️ comet - A chunk of ice and rock originating from the outer solar system, often accompanied by a coma and a tail. 🌌 asteroid - A rock in orbit generally between Mars and Jupiter. Sometimes asteroids get bounced toward Earth. 🌠 meteoroid - A space rock that's bigger than a dust grain but smaller than an asteroid. If it strikes Eath it is then a meteorite. 🌠 meteor - The streak of light seen when a space rock enters the atmosphere and starts burning up (A.K.A. falling star). 🌠 meteorite - If a meteor doesn't entirely burn up, a piece of space rock that lands on earth is called a meteorite.   🏞️ Angel Falls - Venezuela - World's highest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of 979 metres (3,212 ft). On a tributary of the Orinoco River. Named after US aviator Jimmie Angel, the first person to fly over the falls. 🏞️ Victoria Falls - Zambia & Zimbabwe - On the Zambezi River at the bordert of the two "Z" nations. Named by Scottish missionary David Livingstone, the first European to view them (1855), in honor of Queen Victoria of Britain. Indigenous Lozi language name, Mosi-oa-Tunya means "The Smoke That Thunders". 🏞️ Iguazu Falls - Argentina & Brazil - Makes up the largest waterfall system in the world. On the Iguazu River between Argentina in Brazil, though most of the falls are on the Argentine side.   ⛪ Corcovado - Rio de Janeiro - Granite peak, 2,329 feet tall, just west of the city center. Known worldwide for the 38-meter (125 ft) reinforced concrete and soapstone statue Cristo Redentor ("Christ the Redeemer", completed 1931) atop its peak. ⛰️ Sugarloaf Mountain - Rio de Janeiro - A 1,299 foot tall peak at the mouth of Guanabara Bay, on a peninsula that juts into the Atlantic Ocean. It is known for its cableway and panoramic views of the city and beyond. UNESCO World Heritage Site (2012)   ⛵ Cape Horn - Chile - Southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, located on Hornos Island. Marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage and marks where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. Discovered and first rounded in 1616 by the Dutchman Willem Schouten who named it (Kaap Hoorn). ⛵ Cape of Good Hope - South Africa - Marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward, but not the southern tip of Africa (Cape Agulhas). The first modern rounding of the cape was in 1488 by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias.   ⛰️ Ural Mountains - Russia & Kazakhstan - Forms part of the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia. Since the 18th century they have contributed significantly to the mineral sector of the Russian economy. 🌊 Aral Sea - Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan - Far east of the Ural mountains. Name roughly translates as "Sea of Islands". Formerly the fourth-largest lake in the world. Mostly dried up; eastern basin is now called the Aralkum Desert.     ≪ Return to Trivial Studies