About REBECCA PRIESTLEY
I’m a science historian and writer. I write about all sorts of things, but I’m mostly interested in New Zealand’s science history, about which I’ve curated two exhibitions, The Art of Science and Butterflies, Boffins & Black Smokers. I write a regular science column for The Listener, which you can read here, and I’ve completed four books, which you can read more about here. I’m now working on an anthology of Antarctic science, which should be finished ... soon and trying to decide between two new book projects: a worthy history of science biography and a fun contemporary science story. Perhaps I'll do both. I mostly blog when I'm adventuring - most of these posts are from recent trips to Antarctica and the Kermadec Islands.-
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Category Archives: Travel
Galileo in Florence
This story first appeared in The Listener, issue 3688, 15 January 2011. I’d come a long way to see Galileo’s arthritic middle finger, but recognised the great 17th-century astronomer’s aged appendage – displayed in a gilt-edged glass egg in a … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Travel
Tagged florence, galileo, museum, prosecco, santa croce
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Kermadecs voyage #2: The mystery of the floating pumice
I was planning to write this personal blog at the same time as writing one for Scientific American, but I’m so busy circumnavigating islands in a RHIB, flying into volcanic craters in a Navy Seasprite, fishing for sharks off the … Continue reading
Posted in Kermadecs, Science, Travel
Tagged HMNZS Canterbury, Kermadec Islands, Kermadecs, Navy, pumice
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Kermadecs voyage #1: On the HMNZS Canterbury
In 1955, when the US and USSR were involved in a nuclear arms race, the British Prime Minister asked New Zealand’s permission to test hydrogen bombs in the Kermadecs, a small group of islands about 800 km north of Auckland. … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Kermadecs, Travel
Tagged Blake Trust, HMNZS Canterbury, Kermadecs, Navy, rum
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Antarctic playlist update
Before I went to Antarctica I asked people for recommendations on music to listen to while there, and I put together an Antarctic playlist. Turned out I didn’t listen to much music while I was in Antarctica. It was too … Continue reading
Posted in Antarctic, Personal, Travel
Tagged Antarctica, bon iver, monster trucks, music, playlist, pressure ridges, sigur ros, weakerthans
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Scott Base, Scott Base, this is Rebecca
When I first arrived in Antarctica I felt like the world had just got smaller. This place that had lived in my imagination for so long was suddenly real and underfoot. I’d now been to the Arctic and the Antarctic, … Continue reading
Posted in Antarctic, Personal, Travel
Tagged Antarctica, antarctica new zealand, C-17, Pegasus field, Rebecca Priestley, Scott Base
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Be careful what you wish for
When I arrived here, I didn’t want to leave. But now our stay has been extended. By a day. By another day. By two more days. On Thursday we did “bag drag,” where our bags were weighed and driven over … Continue reading
Posted in Antarctic, Personal, Travel
Tagged Antarctica, Rebecca Priestley, Scott Base, travel
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