![]() ![]() As the renowned French naturalist Georges Cuvier put it, 'it is only in one's study that one can roam freely throughout the universe'. Truly meaningful study, they argued, required the kinds of resources that were not available to those in the field. Some, however, considered that the main purpose of fieldwork was to collect specimens for the dispassionate examination of specialists back home. The need to study natural phenomena in situ might seem self-evident. By the second half of the eighteenth century, the link between travel and science was so widely acknowledged that it had become routine practice to include naturalists in all major voyages of exploration. The Age of Exploration not only paved the way for European conquest and trade, it also widened the horizons of science. 'Roaming Freely Throughout the Universe' : Nicolas Baudin's voyage to Australia and the pursuit of science ![]()
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