A lunatic (colloquially, "loony") is a person who is mentally ill, traditionally someone whose sanity comes and goes with the phases of the Moon.
This probably refers to the symptoms of what is now known as Bipolar disorder.
Extremely foolish persons are also called lunatics.
... to reach the North Pole
Auguste Piccard, (1884-1962), physicist and explorer
Jacques Piccard[?], (born 1922), undersea explorer
Francisco Pizarro, (1471-1541), conqueror ...