In 1911, Captain Robert Scott and his team embarked on an expedition across Antarctica; it wasn't long thereafter that each man perished in an icy death.
Research into the expedition is the basis for a slide lecture presentation by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration senior scientist Susan Solomon on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 4 p.m. The talk is in CU-Boulder's Old Main Chapel.
Many attribute the expedition's fatal end to Scott's poor planning and incompetence, but Solomon would beg to differ. After years of research, Solomon discovered that conditions beyond the control of Scott and his team led to their demise.
In the lecture, which is sponsored by CU's Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (PAOS) and the CU Heritage Center, Solomon will explain how Scott and his companions were undone by freakishly low temperatures, which fell as low as -42 C, far below the average of -30 C.
"Through my research, I developed sympathy for these men," Solomon said in an interview with New Scientist. "I found them to be highly intelligent and I felt annoyed that they were being portrayed as fools. Once I reached that conclusion, I wanted to do my part to set the record straight."
After the lecture, a reception and a signing for Solomon's new book, "The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition," which documents her findings, will be held at the CU Heritage Center, on the third floor of Old Main. The lecture and reception are free and open to the public.
Widely recognized as one of the leaders in the field of atmospheric science, Solomon has studied the Antarctic atmosphere for 15 years. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1981 and has since been employed at NOAA as a research scientist.
Her scientific papers have played a major role in explaining the reasons for ozone depletion. In 1986 and 1987, she served as the Head Project Scientist for the National Ozone Expedition at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and made some of the first measurements there that pointed toward chlorofluorocarbons as the cause of the Antarctic ozone "hole."
In 1994, a glacier was named for her in recognition of her work.
Solomon is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a foreign associate of both the French and European Academies of Sciences. In March of 2000, she received the National Medal of Science, the United States' highest scientific honor, for "key insights in explaining the cause of the Antarctic ozone hole."
For information concerning Solomon's lecture, please call (303) 492-6392.