Sidore Lecture: Helen Rozwadowski

Fathoming: How Curiosity Can Help Save the Oceans  

The state of the global oceans has been very much in the news in the last several years. In the face of environmental concern, often the reaction is to call for more science. While it is true that we need good science – and for people to understand and accept it – solving our ocean problems will require more. We need to fathom oceans. The verb fathoming refers to both a traditional unit for measuring depth and also to a more imaginative way of understanding something. A curious approach invites attention to history and imagination as powerful ways we know the oceans, especially the hidden undersea parts. Broadening the way we know oceans, I argue, promises new insights and ideas for action. Curiosity creates hope.  

Dr. Helen M. Rozwadowski is Professor of History & founder of the Maritime Studies program at the University of Connecticut. She studies the history of interconnections between oceans and people. She is author of the prize-winning books Vast Expanses: A History of the Oceans (2018) and Fathoming the Ocean: The Discovery and Exploration of the Deep Sea (2005). A recent virtual exhibition, “Oceans in Three Paradoxes” https://www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/oceans-three-paradoxes, presents her research to the public. Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich, Germany. 

This event is free, however it is ticketed. Tickets can be collected at the Box Office or online at the link below.