Scientists to the End Scott’S Own ‘Lost’ Photographs

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notebooks as well as a range of biological and geological specimens. These include the shells of three eggs from the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri; pictured), which contained embryos at different stages of development. Wilson, his assistant Apsley Cherry-Garrard and marine lieutenant Henry Bowers collected them under unimaginably harsh conditions, MUS., NEW ZEALAND CANTERBURY trudging to the penguin breeding colony at Cape Crozier — a trip immortalized by Cherry-Garrard in his 1922 book The Worst Journey in the World. The team’s painstak- ing preservation and study of the embryos ultimately came to little, as theories about bird evolution from reptiles had changed by the time their report was published in 1934. However, the fossils of the extinct plant Glossopteris indica, found by Scott and his final companions, provided important evi- dence that the climate of Antarctica once supported vegetation and was a part of the supercontinent Gondwana. Biologist Edward Atkinson in the lab at Cape Evans hut, base camp of the Antarctic Terra Nova expedition. The expedition is also documented by photographs, many by photographer Her- ANTARCTICA bert Ponting. These include an iconic image of Scott writing in his diary, and parasitic- infection specialist Edward Atkinson work- ing at the bench. Similarly informative are Scientists to the end Scott’s own ‘lost’ photographs. Only a hand- ful of the 120 images he took under Ponting’s Colin Martin celebrates a London exhibition revealing tutelage had been available until last year, the research legacy of Robert Scott’s final journey. when Wilson’s great-nephew, polar historian David M. Wilson, published The Lost Photo- graphs of Captain Scott (Little, Brown; 2011). t is one of the most poignant moments Scott’s Last Expedition The snowy panoramas and shots of expedi- in polar history. One hundred years ago Natural History Museum, London. tion life help to reveal the daily realities of his this week, British Antarctic Expedition 20 January to 2 September 2012. last endeavour, while polar scientists still use Ileader Robert Falcon Scott and his four These Rough Notes the images for comparison with contempo- companions reached the spot where, 33 days Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, UK. rary photographs to assess climate impacts. previously, Roald Amundsen and his party Until 5 May 2012 . A concurrent exhibition, These Rough had planted a Norwegian flag. All five mem- Notes, is showing at the Scott Polar Research bers of Scott’s party died while attempting specimens of 2,109 animals, plants and fossils Institute in Cambridge, UK. It takes its title to return to their base camp at Cape Evans. — with more than 401 new to science. from a journal entry written by Scott shortly That tragic outcome has tended to Geological specimens (1,919 of before his death — “These rough notes and overshadow the expedition’s scientific which are in the museum’s our dead bodies must tell the tale…” — achievements. In Scott’s Last Expedition, permanent collection) helped and displays personal papers of Scott London’s Natural History Museum aims to construct knowledge of the and other expedition members. They to redress the balance. As curator Elin continent. The meteorological record the heartbreaking poignancy Simonsson explains, “We want people to data — the longest unbroken of the polar party’s death. But as know that Scott’s British Antarctic Expedi- record of weather collected in the the exhibition at the Natural His- M. WATSON/ARDEA.COM tion was not simply a quest to reach the South early twentieth century — pro- tory Museum shows, we need to Pole, but an important scientific expedition vide baselines that are now used reinforce the dual importance of that carried out work across many fields.” in assessing climate change. this extraordinary expedition. “We Those fields included glaciology (then in its The shore party of 25 men want the scientific work to make infancy), biology, magnetism, meteorology, lived and worked in a wooden the bagging of the Pole merely an chemistry and physics. The scientific team hut measuring 112 square metres item in the results,” wrote Wilson at that participated in Scott’s Terra Nova expe- (about half the area of a singles the expedition’s outset. He didn’t, of dition of 1910–13 numbered 12 — the largest tennis court). Although the hut course, foresee that his own fate, and sent to the Antarctic at that time — including was equipped with scientific instru- that of Scott and other colleagues, zoologist Edward Wilson, geologist T. Griffith ments, the scientists’ real lab was the would long eclipse an enduring Taylor and meteorolo- Antarctic. The exhibition includes scientific legacy that led to the gist George Simpson. NATURE.COM a full-size representation of the hut publication of 81 papers. ■ When the ship Terra For more on Scott’s (the original is preserved at Cape Evans), Nova returned to Eng- legacy: with actual artefacts from the expedition on Colin Martin is a writer based in London. land, it was laden with go.nature.com/9fbuuj display, including scientific apparatus and e-mail: [email protected]