Antarctica has always been about science
Even with the earliest expeditions to Antarctica, Science was a key motivator but it wasn’t until 1957/58 during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) when 67 countries participated in scientific research in Antarctica, that science and Antarctica became indelibly entwined.
The IGY led to the first permanent bases on the continent and their purpose was to facilitate the movement and housing of scientists and their equipment in order to conduct research in a wide range of disciplines.
There are many questions of scientific interest but it is very expensive to do science in Antarctica, which is why the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) met and 75 scientists and policy-makers from 22 countries came up with a list of six priorities for scientific research in Antarctica for the coming decades. They also decided on the 80 most important scientific questions that needed to be addressed by Antarctic research.
You can find those questions here
Last year (2018) I visited Scott Base in Antarctica and interviewed Megan Martin, Antarctica New Zealand’s General Manager, Communications about how Antarctica New Zealand viewed their role in support of science. You can see the video below.
I believe most Antarctic bases and Antarctic programs would view it similarly.