The Challenger Expedition 1872-1876
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the voyage of HMS Challenger which set out from Portsmouth in 1872 with a mission a to explore the ocean depths around the world and search for new life. The scale of the enterprise was breath taking and, for its ambition, it has since been compared to the Apollo missions. The team onboard found thousands of new species, proved there was life on the deepest seabeds and plumbed the Mariana Trench five miles below the surface. Thanks to telegraphy and mailboats, its vast discoveries were shared around the world even while Challenger was at sea, and they are still being studied today, offering insights into the ever-changing oceans that cover so much of the globe and into the health of our planet.
Guests
-
Erika Jones No other episodes
Curator of Navigation and Oceanography at Royal Museums Greenwich -
Sam Robinson No other episodes
Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute Research Fellow at the University of Southampton -
Giles Miller No other episodes
Principal Curator of Micropalaeontology at the Natural History Museum London
Reading list
-
Scientists and the Sea, 1650-1900
Margaret Deacon (Routledge, 1997) Google Books → -
Mapping the Oceans: Discovering the world beneath our seas
Carolyn Fry (Arcturus, 2020) Google Books → -
The Challenger Expedition: Exploring the Ocean's Depths
Erika Jones (Royal Museums Greenwich, 2022) Google Books → -
The Voyage of the Challenger
Eric Linklaters (Cardinal Books, 1972) Google Books → -
A Challenger's Song
Philip Pearson (Austin Macauley Publishers, 2021) Google Books → -
At Sea with the Scientifics: The Challenger Letters of Joseph Matkin
Philip F. Rehbock (ed.) (University of Hawaii Press, 1992) -
Fathoming the Ocean: The Discovery and Exploration of the Deep Sea
Helen Rozwadowski (Harvard University Press, 2005) Google Books → -
Small World: Forging a Scientific Maritime Culture for Oceanography
Helen M. Rozwadowski ( 1996) -
The Edge of an Unfamiliar World: A History of Oceanography
Susan Schlee (Bookthrift Co, 1976) Google Books →
Related episodes
-
Oceanography
22 Nov, 2001 550 Earth sciences and geology -
Voyages of James Cook
3 Dec, 2015 900 History -
Astronomy and Empire
4 May, 2006 520 Astronomy -
Plankton
5 Oct, 2023 570 Biology -
Darwin: The Voyage of the Beagle
6 Jan, 2009 570 Biology -
Longitude
13 May, 2021 620 Engineering -
Doggerland
27 Jun, 2019 930 History of the Ancient World -
The Spanish Armada
7 Oct, 2010 940 History of Europe -
Moby Dick
7 Dec, 2017 810 American literature in English -
Humboldt
28 Sep, 2006 500 Science -
The Origins of Life
23 Sep, 2004 570 Biology -
Exoplanets
3 Oct, 2013 520 Astronomy -
Corals
28 Oct, 2021 570 Biology -
Plato’s Atlantis
22 Sep, 2022 100 Philosophy -
The Cambrian Period
17 Feb, 2005 560 Fossils and prehistoric life -
Ediacara Biota
9 Jul, 2009 560 Fossils and prehistoric life -
Extremophiles
25 Jun, 2015 570 Biology -
The Ming Voyages
13 Oct, 2011 950 History of Asia -
Darwin: On the Origins of Charles Darwin
5 Jan, 2009 570 Biology -
Seismology
10 Mar, 2022 550 Earth sciences and geology
Programme ID: m001fcvd
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fcvd
Auto-category: 551.46 (Marine biology and oceanography)