2016 Coastal Perspective Lecture Series
University of Connecticut
Avery Point
Tuesday, February 9th, 7:30 p.m.
“Race to the Bottom: The Forgotten Quest to Conquer and Colonize the Seafloor, 1960 – 1975”
By Antony Adler, Ph.D., Visiting Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
The Cobb Seamount, first discovered in 1950 off the coast of Washington, was the focus of a multi-year scientific research program named “Project Sea Use” from 1968 until 1975. This collaborative effort, involving private industry, state government, and the U.S. military, aimed to install a manned underwater habitat in international waters on the summit of a submerged volcano. Ultimately, the aims of “Project Sea Use” were never fully realized, but the story of this ill-fated endeavor reveals important scientific, political, and military characteristics of marine research at the height of the Cold War. “Project Sea Use” embodied the hopes and fears of a generation of scientists, explorers, and politicians who envisioned a near future when humans would colonize the seafloor. The oceans presented the promise of untapped riches on a new frontier. But together with this dream came the nightmare of starving masses on an overpopulated earth, thermonuclear war, and new forms of colonial competition between maritime nations. Some believed humanity’s very survival was at stake.
Antony Adler is a Visiting Research Fellow with the Program on Science, Technology & Society (STS) at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Antony received a BA in History from Carleton College in 2006, an MA in Museology from the University of Washington in 2009, and a PhD in History from the University of Washington in 2014. He is currently working on a book project based on his dissertation, The Ocean Laboratory: Exploration, Fieldwork, and Science at Sea.
Lecture series is FREE and open to the public. Lectures begin at 7:30 p.m., with light refreshments at 7:10.
Please join us in our newly renovated 300-seat auditorium for the 20th Annual Coastal Perspectives Lecture Series. The auditorium is located on the second floor of the Academic Building (disabled accessible). Enter through the Academic Building or through the Student Center. There is a limited-capacity elevator on the first floor of the Academic Building. Please call us with your questions, or concerns, on the limited-mobility access points to the auditorium at 860-405-9025, or email Noreen.blaschik@uconn.edu.
This series is sponsored by The Connecticut Sea Grant College Program, the Department of Marine Sciences, UCONN and the Maritime Studies Program, UCONN. For more information, the lecture flyer, or a campus map, visit our website at http://marinesciences.uconn.edu/lectures/ or email CoastalPerspectives@uconn.edu.
For more information, contact: Noreen Blaschik at 8604059025