Photographer and scientist Chris Linder to speak Jan. 6
Chris Linder of International League of Conservation Photographers and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will present "Science on Ice: Adélie Penguins" as part of Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment Speaker Series at noon on Friday, Jan. 6, in Academic Instructional Center West Room 304 on the Western campus.
The presentation is free and open to the public.
"Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised," wrote Apsley Cherry-Garrard of his time with the 1910 Scott expedition to the South Pole. That is how most of us still imagine polar expeditions: stolid men with ice riming their beards, risking death for scientific knowledge. But polar science has evolved over the past century. Using images from his recent book "Science on Ice: Four Polar Expeditions," Linder will explore how Adélie penguins, and the researchers who study them, survive and thrive at Cape Royds and Cape Crozier, the southernmost penguin colonies in the world.
Linder communicates science in the field from the Congo to Siberia using photography and multimedia. After earning a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in oceanography, he spent three years in Spain working as a US Navy meteorology officer and cultivating his photography skills. He then returned to Woods Hole, where his passions for science and photography came together. Since 2002, he has photographed two dozen science expeditions, including 14 to the polar regions.
His images have appeared in museums, books, and magazines, including Geo, Nature's Best, Outdoor Photographer, and Wired. His exhibit titled "Exploring the Arctic Seafloor" debuted at the Field Museum and traveled to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the MIT Museum. He is a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers, and lives in Seattle with his wife and two children.
Anyone interested in this topic is encouraged to come and participate; the presentation will include a question-and-answer period. The speaker series is held by Western's Huxley College of the Environment to bring together the environmentally minded community and other interested members of the WWU and Bellingham communities. Speakers address topics of contemporary environmental concern in the region and the world.
For more information, please contact the main office of Huxley College of the Environment, at (360) 650-3520.
Western’s Huxley College of the Environment is one of the oldest environmental colleges in the nation and a recognized national leader in producing the next generation of environmental stewards. The College’s academic programs reflect a broad view of the physical, biological, social and cultural world. This innovative and interdisciplinary approach makes Huxley unique. The College has earned international recognition for the quality of its programs.