Out of the Cold: Scientific Exploration and Discovery

Out of the Cold: Scientific Exploration and Discovery in Canada’s Arctic

Gatineau, Quebec, October xxx, 2008 — Arctic exploration didn’t end with the discovery of the Northwest Passage nor the attainment of the North Pole. Today’s explorers are the scientists who study the rocks and ice, the animals and climate that make the Arctic such a unique and fascinating region. The Arctic preserves important clues to the history of the planet and to the processes that control the climate of the world. Recently recognized as a bellwether of global environmental change, the Arctic continues to attract scientific research into matters that affect us all.

Join us at the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC) to hear from, and speak to, today’s Arctic explorers through a series of lectures entitled Out of the Cold: The Roy Koerner Lectures. Organized in recognition of International Polar Year and the 50th Anniversary of the Polar Continental Shelf Project, this monthly series comprises six lectures on scientific exploration and discovery. Prominent scholars in a variety of fields including glaciology, archaeology, and wildlife biology will share their knowledge of scientific research in Canada’s Arctic.

“The Arctic is much more than a storehouse of undiscovered mineral deposits that will be important to Canada’s economic future,” says Pat Sutherland, Curator of Arctic Archaeology at the Museum of Civilization. “It holds information crucial to our understanding of climatic change, as well as to our knowledge of Canadian history and our perception of the Canadian identity.”

All lectures will be held in the Canadian Museum of Civilization Theatre. Each lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 each or $21 for the series of six lectures. Tickets are available at the Museum Box Office or by calling 819 776-7000.

Organized in partnership with Polar Continental Shelf Project, Natural Resources Canada

Lectures

October 30

The Last Imaginary Place

Archaeologist Dr. Robert McGhee (CMC) discusses perceptions of the North developed through centuries of travellers’ tales, and how scientific exploration has changed those views of the Arctic and its Inuit inhabitants. English with simultaneous translation

November 13

Whither the Tropical Arctic? From Greenhouse to Icehouse

Palaeobotanist Dr. James Basinger (University of Saskatchewan) examines how the fossil forests discovered in Canada’s High Ar