Amherst Cinema Amherst, MA
Dr. Julie Brigham-Grette
Professor, Quaternary/Glacial Geology, Department of Geosciences, UMass Amherst
South: Ernest Shackleton & the Endurance Expedition— What makes a great leader?
Program Description
An exploration of the question: What makes a great leader, and how far will we follow one into dangerous circumstances?
Presented At
Amherst Cinema Amherst, MA
Film Synopsis
The story of the 1914–1916 Antarctic exploration mission of Sir Ernest Shackleton. The ship sails south, breaking the ice, and ultimately getting trapped by the fast-changing weather.
On August 8, 1914, internationally renowned explorer and national hero Sir Ernest Shackleton sets sail on the Endurance in an attempt to cross the Antarctic continent via the Pole. With an eye toward profiting from the adventure, Shackleton hires experienced cameraman Frank Hurley, whose films and photographs would hopefully pay for part of the expedition. But soon, the Endurance becomes trapped in unusually heavy pack ice. Shackleton and his crew drift helplessly northward during the long and brutal Antarctic winter night while listening to the shrieks and moans of the ship slowly being crushed by the mounting pressure. What follows is one of the greatest adventure stories ever told.
About the Speaker
Professor and department head in the Department of Geosciences at UMass Amherst, Dr. Julie Brigham-Grette has been on the faculty at UMass since 1987. Her research interests are on the stratigraphy, sedimentology, and chronology of geologic systems that record the climate evolution and sea level history of the Arctic since the mid-Pliocene. She was recently named Chair of the Polar Research Board of the US National Academy of Science. At home, Dr. Brigham-Grette maintains an interest in the late Pleistocene paleoclimatic history and drainage record of Glacial Lake Hitchcock and the Holocene evolution of the Connecticut River.