6 Science, and the Pacific’s role in European thought
6 Science, and the Pacific’s role in European thought
The number of European expeditions entering the Pacific increased markedly towards the end of the 1700s, and there was a notable shift in both the objectives and methods of European exploration of the region. Europe was going through a period of significant change, and science was taking up a prominent role in European thinking, a role it still holds. European science shaped exploration of the Pacific, and the Pacific shaped significant aspects of European science. The Pacific offered a region for study, became a laboratory, and played a major role in European thinking about the world.
The start of science-driven exploration of the Pacific is generally associated with the Endeavour voyage. That voyage was sponsored by the Royal Society, an institution established in 1660 that was central to the development of scientific methods and thinking. The Society’s motto ‘Nullius in Verba’ translates as ‘take nobody’s word for it’ and marked a significant shift in thinking as it endorsed observation and experiment (in contrast to tradition and authority) as sources of knowledge. The Society’s journal Philosophical Transactions established the model of peer-reviewed scientific publication that remains central to research to the present day.
Science was at the heart of the Endeavour voyage. One manifestation was in astronomy. The transit of the planet Venus across the sun that was due to occur in 1769 marked an opportunity to calculate the distance between the earth and the sun that would not be repeated for 120 years. The successful calculation of that distance required astronomers to observe and record the transit at widely spaced localities. Samuel Wallis arrived in England with news of Tahiti at the perfect moment for it to be chosen as a site for European scientific observation and to play a role in establishing the earth’s place in the solar system.
The Endeavour carried a range of scientists, among them Cook who was both a skilled astronomer and an excellent cartographer. The expedition also included an astronomer appointed by the Royal Society, Charles Green. Connections between the expedition and the Society also manifested in the person of Joseph Banks. Banks was a wealthy gentleman, a fellow of the Royal Society, and sufficiently influential to join the voyage in the service of science, and to bring a team of artists and scientists with him. In 1778 Banks became president of the Royal Society, a post he held until his death in 1820. In the wake of the Endeavour the advancement of science became a recognised goal of Pacific exploration by European powers.
And the Endeavour’s scientists made significant contributions to Europe’s scientific knowledge. The Endeavour’s astronomers recorded observations of the transit of Venus from two locations in Tahiti, and those observations played a role in the subsequent calculations that determined distances between objects within the solar system. Banks and h