1955 - Tigran Shmaonov[?] finds excess microwave emission with a temperature of roughly 3 K
1964 - A. G. Doroshkevich[?] and Igor Novikov[?] write an unnoticed paper suggesting microwave searches for the blackbody radiation predicted by Gamow, Alpher, and Herman
1968 - Martin Rees[?] and Dennis Sciama[?] theoretically predict microwave background fluctuation amplitudes created by photons traversing time-dependent potential wells
... Portuguese explorer who first rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
Sir Francis Drake, (c. 1540-1596), pirate, leader of the second circumnavigation
Jules Dumont d'Urville, ...