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Interview with Gillen D’Arcy Wood - The Wake of HMS Challenger

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Manage episode 514919130 series 2737493
Content provided by Gabrielle Birchak. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Gabrielle Birchak or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak speaks with Professor Gillen D’Arcy Wood, author of The Wake of the HMS Challenger: How a Legendary Victorian Voyage Tells the Story of Our Ocean’s Decline. Together, they uncover how a nineteenth-century Royal Navy warship transformed into a floating laboratory and gave humanity its first global snapshot of the oceans. From discovering thousands of new species to inspiring NASA’s Challenger shuttle, the expedition shaped modern oceanography and continues to inform today’s conservation science.

Wood’s biocentric storytelling reminds us that to save our planet, we must first fall in love with it again, to be, as he says, re-enchanted by the living ocean that sustains us all.

Three Things Listeners Will Learn

  1. How the HMS Challenger (1872–1876) became the first global oceanographic expedition, collecting temperature, depth, and biological data still used today.
  2. Why Gillen D’Arcy Wood’s “biocentric” approach reframes history through the perspective of marine life rather than human explorers.
  3. What the voyage teaches us about modern ocean crises: from overfishing and warming seas to microplastics—and how species like the green turtle show that recovery is possible.

BUY THE BOOK!

The Wake of the HMS Challenger by Gillen D’Arcy Wood - HarperCollins Publishers

Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h

Let’s Connect!Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history Mastodon: https://[email protected] YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory

Enjoying the Podcast? ☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal

Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform

Check out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store

Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Smooth Piano by Universefield Musinova - Travelling And Discovering (Marimba World Percussion) Documentary-Nikita Kondrashev

Audio Editor: Podcast mixed by David Aviles

Until next time, carpe diem!

  continue reading

163 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 514919130 series 2737493
Content provided by Gabrielle Birchak. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Gabrielle Birchak or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak speaks with Professor Gillen D’Arcy Wood, author of The Wake of the HMS Challenger: How a Legendary Victorian Voyage Tells the Story of Our Ocean’s Decline. Together, they uncover how a nineteenth-century Royal Navy warship transformed into a floating laboratory and gave humanity its first global snapshot of the oceans. From discovering thousands of new species to inspiring NASA’s Challenger shuttle, the expedition shaped modern oceanography and continues to inform today’s conservation science.

Wood’s biocentric storytelling reminds us that to save our planet, we must first fall in love with it again, to be, as he says, re-enchanted by the living ocean that sustains us all.

Three Things Listeners Will Learn

  1. How the HMS Challenger (1872–1876) became the first global oceanographic expedition, collecting temperature, depth, and biological data still used today.
  2. Why Gillen D’Arcy Wood’s “biocentric” approach reframes history through the perspective of marine life rather than human explorers.
  3. What the voyage teaches us about modern ocean crises: from overfishing and warming seas to microplastics—and how species like the green turtle show that recovery is possible.

BUY THE BOOK!

The Wake of the HMS Challenger by Gillen D’Arcy Wood - HarperCollins Publishers

Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h

Let’s Connect!Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history Mastodon: https://[email protected] YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory

Enjoying the Podcast? ☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal

Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform

Check out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store

Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Smooth Piano by Universefield Musinova - Travelling And Discovering (Marimba World Percussion) Documentary-Nikita Kondrashev

Audio Editor: Podcast mixed by David Aviles

Until next time, carpe diem!

  continue reading

163 episodes

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