The disputed sound of the aurora borealis: sensing liminal noise during the First and Second International Polar Years, 1882–3 and 1932–3
Authors
Amery, Fiona
Publication Date
2022-03-20Journal Title
Notes and Records: the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science
ISSN
0035-9149
Publisher
The Royal Society
Volume
76
Issue
1
Pages
5-26
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AO
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Amery, F. (2022). The disputed sound of the aurora borealis: sensing liminal noise during the First and Second International Polar Years, 1882–3 and 1932–3. Notes and Records: the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, 76 (1), 5-26. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2021.0031
Abstract
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This paper discusses heightened interest in the potential audibility of the aurora borealis during the First and Second International Polar Years (IPYs) of 1882–3 and 1932–3. Galvanized by a growing volume of local accounts expressing belief in the elusive noises, written by the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands, northern Canada, and Norway, auroral researchers of each era were determined to establish the objectivity of auroral sound. There was considerable speculation within the auroral research community as to whether the apparent noises were imagined or illusory, connected to discussions about the possibility of low-altitude aurorae. The anglophone auroral sound debate primarily played out within the official reports of IPY expeditions, the journal
<jats:italic>Nature</jats:italic>
, and a Shetland Island newspaper. I argue that the embodied senses were used exclusively to register the liminal sounds of the aurora across the two periods, despite developments in sound recording technologies, the primacy of mechanical objectivity, and instruments transported to the polar regions for the investigation of visual features of the phenomenon. This overlooked episode complicates narratives of polar science in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by revealing a faith in the corporeal senses and the significant role of amateur observers.
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Keywords
RESEARCH ARTICLES, aurora borealis, sound, International Polar Year, polar science, senses
Identifiers
rsnr20210031
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2021.0031
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/333554
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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