Podcast: Captain Cook and Georg Forster in the Antarctic

A 55 minute audio documentary from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

It´s not well known that the first major scientific expedition to the Antarctic was led by James Cook during his 1773 voyage to New Zealand.

It´s even less well known that the voyage was recorded by a young German writer and natural historian who sailed with Cook.

Georg Forster´s A Voyage Round the World was one of the most famous and influential travel narratives of its time: a scientific adventure story which ranges from the terrors of the Antarctic ice to cannibalism amongst the Māori in New Zealand, which is graphically recounted in this documentary.

In this podcast hear readings from Forster´s book, Cook´s journals and The German Traitor, a novel based on Forster´s life.

Original audio source

Podcast: Astronomy and Empire

From the BBC's In Our Time series Melvyn Bragg and three distinguished academics discuss the link between colonial expansion and scientific discovery.

The 18th century explorer and astronomer James Cook wrote: 'Ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go'. Cook's ambition took him to the far reaches of the Pacific and led to astronomical observations which measured the distance of Venus to the Sun with unprecedented accuracy.

Cook's ambition was not just personal and astronomical. It represented the colonial ambition of the British Empire which was linked inextricably with science and trade. The Transit of Venus discoveries on Cook's voyage to Tahiti marked the beginning of a period of expansion by the British which relied on maritime navigation based on astronomical knowledge.

How had ancient trade routes set a precedent for colonial expansion? What was the link between astronomy and surveying? What tools did the 18th and 19th century astronomers have at their disposal? And how did the British justify their colonial ambition and scientific superiority?

Contributors

Simon Schaffer, Professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge

Kristen Lippincott, former Director of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich

Allan Chapman, Historian of Science at the History Faculty at Oxford University

Listen to this 42 minute Podcast