Description

How do you draw a picture of something you’ve heard about but never seen?

How do you see it in the first place?

This is a problem that has bedeviled scientists for centuries. Today, we hunt for ways to visualize black holes, gravitational waves, and deep-sea life. Five hundred years ago, people likewise tried to make sense of phenomena like comets and earthquakes. They also sought to understand the mysterious, half-seen creatures that lurked beneath the ocean’s surface.

This exhibit traces how Europeans became acquainted with whales, from the large, wild, and toothy monsters that fill the earliest images of the sea to the mammals we know today. It was a scientific process, one that was aided by new information from sailors, scholars, and beachcombers; new ways of recording that information; and an active market for distributing images and knowledge.

Join us as we trawl these monster-filled depths in search of whales.