Maiden Voyage, 1872–1876

The Challenger expedition's data on ocean temperatures and currents, seawater chemistry, life in the deep sea, and the geology of the seafloor spurred the rise of modern oceanography.

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

Deep beneath the ocean swells lurk creatures never seen by people—or so some scientists thought in the late 1800s. In On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin suggested the oceans had remained largely unchanged for millions of years and would contain living fossils of the past, providing proof of his idea of evolution. Others envisioned the deep ocean as a vast wasteland, filled only with extremely primitive life forms, or none at all. To settle the debate, the Royal Society of London launched a daring expedition—the voyage of the HMS Challenger—to map the ocean floor, to study seawater temperatures and chemistry, and to dredge up deep-sea organisms.

The voyage may have been “nothing less than a last chance to choose between God and Science,” writes the biogeochemist Richard Corfield in his 2003 book, The Silent Landscape: The Scientific Voyage of HMS Challenger. Work done aboard Challenger revolutionized researchers’ ideas about ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Ashley Yeager

    Ashley started at The Scientist in 2018. Before joining the staff, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, a writer at the Simons Foundation, and a web producer at Science News, among other positions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT. Ashley edits the Scientist to Watch and Profile sections of the magazine and writes news, features, and other stories for both online and print.

Published In

Climate Change
July 2018

Climate Change

Which species are most vulnerable?

Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide