FUNDED PROJECT

CHallenger

The HMS Challenger expedition (1872-1876) was a groundbreaking exploration of the world’s ocean and the first to systematically explore its deepest regions. It is recognized globally as the event that created oceanography as a discipline and gave a tremendous push to the advancement of marine biology. To celebrate the 150-year anniversary of the Challenger launch, WHI is working with the Marine Biological Lab (MBL) and the College of Exploration to produce the exhibit: Deep Sea to Deep Learning: 150 Years of Visualizing Life from the HMS Challenger to Artificial Intelligence. The exhibit will include images from the 50-volume Challenger report (in the holdings of the MBL Library). These images range from stunning biological illustrations of sea life never before seen, to drawings of landscapes and people encountered during the voyage as well as early black and white photographs. The images will be digitally reproduced and printed in sizes appropriate to the available space and funds.

To contrast and compare with images from the Challenger expedition, MBL will provide still images (also reproduced as prints) and video (displayed on flat screens roughly the same size and resolution of the historic images) of their latest biological visualization. These will be contextual to the Challenger images in order to provide opportunities for visitors to compare and contrast the old and the new. 

To kick-off the exhibit development, a fundraiser concert will be held August 11 featuring work by composer Greg Brown based on text from the Challenger Report.