On this week’s Science Friday, we’ll be talking Sci-Art and Sci-History. We’ll start off by interviewing Dr. Paul Bloom, author of the new book, How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like. Why do we like expensive wine better than cheap wine, regardless of how it tastes? Why do we value a Vermeer painting more than an identical fake?
We’ll also be talking about a seminal moment in polar history: the 1911 race to the South Pole between two teams of explorers – one British, one Norwegian. One team made it to the pole ahead of schedule. The other team perished on the way back.
Joining us will be Dr. Ross MacPhee, curator of an exhibit about the race to the pole, “Race to the End of the Earth.” It’s on display now at the American Museum of Natural History. Also joining us will be John Huston, a polar explorer who participated in a reenactment of the race organized by the BBC. Huston used clothing, equipment, and rations similar to those that the original explorers used, in an attempt to find out which team was truly better prepared.
The original explorers documented their journeys meticulously, and one team even brought along an official expedition photographer. In the companion book to the AMNH exhibition, Race to the End, Dr. MacPhee writes of Herbert Ponting, photographer for the British team, headed by Robert Falcon Scott:
Ponting considered himself a “camera artist,” and it was his beautifully rendered images of Japan and China that had captivated Scott and convinced him that Ponting was the man he wanted. On board Terra Nova [Scott’s ship], Ponting would spend a great deal of time setting up his images with his bulky 8 x 10 view camera, sometimes suspending himself from various shipboard contraptions to capture just the right angle and backgrounds. He also took along a movie camera and would become one of the first photographers to bring back moving images from Antarctica.
Below are some photographs from the American Museum of Natural History’s library of the two men on the journey, including a few from Ponting. Listen in to the show this week to hear more.
Britsh explorer Robert Falcon Scott's team pulling sledge
Scott in hut
Scott on skis
Scott with team at the South Pole
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen on skis
Amundsen reaches the South Pole
Related:
“Race to the End of the Earth” (American Museum of Natural History)
Race to the End: Amundsen, Scott, and the Attainment of the South Pole
Blizzard: Race to the Pole (BBC)
John Huston’s 2009 North Pole Expedition (look for his research from this expedition in the September 14 issue of Popular Mechanics!)
