Ferdinand Magellan was a famed Portugese explorer who was first to circumnavigate the planet Earth during the early 16th century.
Nora, a friend of Travis Mayweather's who resided on the ECS Horizon, compared Travis to Magellan and Columbus after he explained to her that the exploration feats he participated in aboard Enterprise, which included having traveled 150 light years and visited 22 inhabited worlds in an 18 months period. (ENT: "Horizon")
Magellan's legacy would be honored well into the 24th century as the name of a Federation shuttlecraft assigned aboard the USS Enterprise. (TNG: "Darmok", "The Outcast") A Federation starship named USS Magellan was also named in his honor. (TNG: "Starship Mine"; DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels")