The HMS Challenger expedition, 1872-1876
By Tony Rice
The HMS Challenger
The Challenger's 68,890-nautical-mile expedition, organised by the biologists William Benjamin Carter and Charles Wyville Thomson in 1872, witnessed the birth of oceanography as it is known today. Tony Rice explains how the voyage provided positive proof that life really did exist on the deep-sea bed. Scientists were also able for the first time to identify sediment material as extraterrestrial dust from comets and asteroids.
Challenger Voyage PDF (116.0 KB)
The first collected specimen of Theobroma cacao, the plant from which chocolate is made, is kept in the Museum.