Exploring the Underlying Motivations of the Antarctic Scientists of the Heroic Age.

• Main Author: Cox, Anna
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: University of Canterbury 2017
• Subjects: Antarctic; Charcot; Shackleton; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/13814

Scientific discovery in the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, the ten years commencing 1907, was extremely demanding and carried great risk. The working conditions of the scientists within the expedition teams led by Shackleton, Charcot, Shirase, Filchner, Mawson, Scott, and Amundsen varied greatly. Scott ran a comprehensive scientific institute, appointing a capable team of scientists, encouraging ongoing scientific pursuit with regular lecture series and providing the necessary logistical support, alongside his sporting pursuits. Charcot and Mawson led expeditions purely for scientific purposes. Shackleton and Charcot each endeavoured to provide a similar science setting to Scott's, but were limited by geographical challenges and personnel issues. The scientists who travelled with Amundsen or with Shirase worked in comparative isolation, but achieved notable scientific work. In all instances, the scientists themselves were highly motivated for scientific discovery in extreme conditions. The accolades, publishing opportunities and financial gain that may have come to them after the expeditions were not the main source of their motivation for undertaking such work. It was the work itself, the extreme environment it existed in, and the people they were working alongside, which collectively provided the main motivation for the scientists to explore within the Antarctic expeditions of the Heroic Age.