Geison/Kellman: Doctoral Dissertation Research With the Hubble Space Telescope, the Super-conducting Super Collider, the Human Genome Project and LIGO, we frequently think that "Big" science is a product of the 20th century and principally in the area of physics or astronomy. A science with the longest history of "big" science, however, is oceanography. Even today, NSF and NOAA must spend millions of dollars to construct oceanographic vessels and equipment. Expeditions remain extremely expensive. Yet nations have invested in major ocean-going scientific expeditions for at least three centuries. The ostensible reason for these expeditions is the advance of knowledge and the concomitant economic development that comes from scientific knowledge. Yet even today, these voyages serve political and commercial as well as scientific purposes. Ocean margin drilling, for example, not only advances our understanding of the ocean floors but tells us what minerals may be on the ocean floor that our companies might "mine" and supports our positions in the negotiations over Law of the Sea treaties. Mr. Kellman, under the direction of Dr. Geison, is examining the wave of French scientific voyages that charted the Pacific and southern oceans. His focus is an analysis of the scientific projects planned in Paris and carried out on board, using the wealth of unpublished logbooks and other manuscript sources. He is exploring the meaning of science for these voyages, looking for the way individual disciplines, as well as general methodology interacted with the various forces behind the expedition. He sees these voyages in the greater context of the political, commercial and philosophical aims of French overseas exploration and development. The scientific results of these voyages often reflect the diversity of forces behind them. In natural history, a new focus on the varieties of humans led to the emergence of anthropology. In hydrography and geography, new methods and standards of mathematical r igor were adopted. A new ethos of quantification and precision served as both a motivation and a result of these expeditions. This project will give a new sense to the term "scientific voyages" and show how "science" came to stand for a particular approach and set of methods, equally useful to the academies, to the state, and to commerce.
