Episode Details

The creation of a new discipline based upon a single scientific expedition is a rare occurrence, but this is what resulted from the 1872-1876 expedition of H.M.S. Challenger. With us to explain the history and significance of the Challenger Expedition is Doug Macdougall. Doug is a geochemist who received a BS in geology from the University of Toronto, an MS in geology from McMaster University, and a PhD in Earth Sciences from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. After a two-year postdoc in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Doug returned to Scripps to serve on the faculty. He is now an emeritus professor of Earth Sciences. Doug is a fellow of the Meteoritical Society and the American Geophysical Union. Today we discuss his book Endless Novelties of Extraordinary Interest – The Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger and the Birth of Modern Oceanography, published by Yale University Press.