I’ve come to Mexico where just before the outbreak of war stunning examples of Meso-American art began to emerge from the jungle … These remarkable colossal heads heralded the discovery of a lost world. It was a culture that turned out to be larger and more magnificent than anyone could have imagined. Nothing like this had ever been found in the Americas before. Janina Ramirez, Raiders of the Lost Past III
The state of Veracruz: I’m following in the footsteps of two of America’s greatest pre-war archaeologists: husband and wife team Matthew & Marion Stirling … The Olmec: they built the very first pyramids, palaces and planned cities. ibid.
At the same time as ancient Egypt the Olmecs flourished here. ibid.
Wonderful symbol of the jaguar … repeating throughout Olmec art. ibid.
We see the barbaric up against the civilised. (Culture & Civilisation & Archaeology & Discovery & Mexico) ibid.
130,870. The oldest tomb ever found in Meso-America. ibid.
Masterpieces in jade … The complexity of Olmec society … sourced from elsewhere … Jade was the most precious commodity in the Olmec era. ibid.
[Olmec] Accomplished wood carvers. ibid.
500 years ago an unrecognizable ship arrived in the port of Saville. Its crew was reduced to just 18 emaciated and starving men. But the ship had just completed a voyage of huge importance that changed the shape of history and changed the way we live today. It was 1522 and the Victoria had just become the first ship to circumnavigate the world. Voyages of Discovery s1e1, Paul Rose, BBC 2019
The course that [Ferdinand] Magellan was planning would take him beyond chartered waters into the unknown; it was a journey many believed was impossible. ibid.
One night nearly 250 years ago a ship ran aground on a treacherous reef in the Pacific ocean. Water poured into the wooden hull threatening to sink her and all those on board. The ship that faced a watery grave appeared to be nothing more than an unremarkable coaling vessel captained by an unknown commander on an obscure scientific field trip. But this ship had a secret mission: one that would redraw the map of the world, and make a hero of her undistinguished hero: the ship was called The Endeavour and her captain was called James Cook. Voyages of Discovery s1e2
The Endeavour sailed from Plymouth on 26th August 1768. It was the age of enlightenment, an era of intellectual ferment. ibid.
Cook would have to navigate his ship to the other side of the world … The Endeavour travelled alone. ibid.
Conditions below must have been appalling let alone the smell. And disease was rife. ibid.
Over 2,000,000 sailors had died from scurvy. ibid.
Banks had accidentally stumbled across the cure for scurvy. ibid.
After 33 weeks at sea, land was finally spotted: Cook had arrived … in paradise. ibid.
The Transit of Venus is an incredibly rare event. ibid.
Cook’s mission was now revealed: the discovery of the fabled Great Southern Continent. ibid.
In the Spring of 1892 a charismatic Norwegian explorer called Fridjtof Nansen announced a daring plan to venture into all this: the Arctic, unmanned and unconquered. At the top of the world was the ultimate goal - the North Pole. Voyages of Discovery s1e3: Fridjtof Nansen
The most extraordinary voyage in history. ibid.
Nansen’s crew now faced years alone in the Arctic. ibid.
Cadbury’s sponsored the expedition. ibid.
His voyage of discovery had failed … His obsession would not die. ibid.
Nansen had an extraordinary new plan. To leave the ship and ski the remaining 600 kilometres to the Pole. ibid.
You can lose over four litres of liquid a day … Melting as much snow as he needed … His remarkable talent for invention served him well. ibid.
They were almost going backwards. It was a gut-wrenching blow. ibid.
300 years ago a group of men found themselves thousands of miles from home fighting for their lives. They had travelled half way round the world across unknown lands into hostile territories. But these were no hardened adventurers, they were booking academics on one of the most important scientific expeditions ever. Its outcome would fundamentally change the way we see our world, but their mission would become an eight year epic of obsession, betrayal and murder. Voyages of Discovery s1e4: French Explorers: The Figure of the Earth
This was the first scientific expedition ever. The ambitious mission was launched in 1735 to discover a fundamental truth about our planet: the true shape of the Earth. ibid.
131,457. In May 1939 the crew of the submarine USS Squalus were struck by disaster deep below the surface of the Atlantic ocean. They were trapped on the ocean floor with the air running out and no means of escape. The latest victims of what the US Navy dubbed the Coffin Service. Their fate rested on one man: Naval inventor Charles ‘Swede’ Momsen. Voyages of Discovery s1e5: USS Squalus
In the previous 20 years worldwide 22 subs had been lost along with the lives of over 1,000 men. They didn’t call it the Coffin Service for nothing … No crew had ever been saved from the ocean depths. ibid.
Water from flooding from the rear to the front of the sub. ibid.
A poisonous chlorine gas was beginning to spread. But there was no way out. ibid.
The Squalus had been equipped with Momsen lungs … This is a submarine rescue bell based on Momsen’s design … It was Momsen’s big moment … The unbelievable had happened: a rescue mission had reached the submarine. ibid.
A little more than 150 years ago a young man arrived here in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada in California … He was an explorer … And one day he would be remembered with more reverence than most of America’s presidents. Neil Oliver, The Last Explorers s1e3: John Muir, BBC 2011
Muir began his journey in Indianapolis … down through Florida … He would go to California instead to visit Yosemite. ibid.
Muir was drunk on the sheer spectacle. ibid.
‘He took risks, terrible risks, and he got away with it … The mountains were his teacher … He saw that human beings were a part of it.’ ibid. historian
Muir was offering his readers a new understanding of nature, preaching a new America. ibid.
Proposed a national park surrounding the valley … At the end of September Congress passed a bill. ibid.
Thanks to Muir, preservation was now an established and accepted idea. ibid.
Gamma ray bursts were discovered completely by accident by our military satellites. And came as a result of the Test Ban Treaty in the 1950s under Dwight Eisenhower. Perry Hacking, El Camino College
20th April 1770 – the ship was called The Endeavour; the commander was James Cook. Dan Snow, Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World III: High Tide, BBC 2010
Cook was going to claim undiscovered lands for the British. ibid.
Britain was naming and mapping the world. ibid.
Our history looms large over us shaping our present and our future. We accept the great moments and ideas detailed in history books as a matter of fact. But what if our understanding of historical events isn’t actually all that accurate. As time passes our perception of history can become foggier, less reliable. History’s Greatest Myths s1e1: Inventions and Discoveries, History 2023
Transformative discoveries and inventions often seem as if they have emerged into our society fully formed, filling a space that was empty only moments earlier and quickly becoming the fabric of our daily lives. This perception drives prevailing myths about inventors and their inventions. Yet how history remembers these inventors is often embellished by clever marketing, propaganda, cloudy recollections, and at worst, out and out theft. ibid.
The notion that Edison solely invented the light bulb is a myth that has endured. ibid.
Four years after publishing her research, [Rosalind] Franklin tragically died at the age of 37 from Ovarian cancer before her contemporaries [Crick & Watson] won their Nobel Prize. ibid.