ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Lady Scientists and Antarctic Specimens: The Discovery Investigations at the Natural History Museum

• In Event: Sea-Work and Modern Science 1900-1939 2

English Abstract

In 1925, the British Colonial Office launched the Discovery Investigations, an inter-War marine science research programme, largely designed to use science to assist in the economic development of the Falkland Islands Dependencies. While most commonly associated with whale science, this work involved a range of biological and physical investigations in the region. However, it also operated like a colonial survey might be elsewhere, meant to gradually extend imperial control over a vast ocean territory. For this research to fulfill its geopolitical mandates, it was necessary for the Colonial Office to publish its findings. Yet most of the authors of the Discovery Reports did not travel to the Antarctic but instead relied on specimens and data sent to them by the DI’s organizers. This paper focuses on the relationship between the DI and the Natural History Museum, demonstrating that women based at this institution conducted some of the most important scientific work of the expedition. It not only reveals the significance of women in British marine biology, but also the continuing links between the Colonial Office and British natural history museum collections.

Author

• Daniella McCahey, Texas Tech University