Dr. Michael W. JungJan 4

Hans Hass and Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Pioneering Achievements and Structural Inequalities in the Construction of Maritime Memory . A working paper.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18115420

#histSTM #histocean #envhist #bluehumanities
#oceanhist #histsci #historyofdiving #Maritimememory

Hans Hass and Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Pioneering Achievements and Structural Inequalities in the Construction of Maritime Memory.

This study examines the parallel yet highly divergent careers of Hans Hass and Jacques-Yves Cousteau, two central pioneers of twentieth century underwater exploration. While both contributed substantially to marine science, diving technology, and the visual mediation of the underwater world, their long-term global recognition developed in markedly different ways. Drawing on diverse interdisciplinary perspectives, the article explores how geopolitical conditions, institutional support systems, narrative self-presentation, and the rise of a global media ecology shaped their public visibility. Beyond a biographical or technical comparison, the juxtaposition of Hass and Cousteau is deliberately employed as a conceptual case study to examine the formation of maritime memory in twentieth century underwater research. The findings demonstrate that Cousteau’s worldwide prominence resulted not solely from scientific or technological achievement, but from his exceptional integration into powerful institutional, technological, and cultural infrastructures that amplified and internationalized his work. In contrast, Hass - despite significant early innovation and ecological awareness - was constrained by weaker institutional embeddedness, a scientifically restrained and emotionally neutral serial television aesthetic with limited long-term repeatability, and subsequent theoretical isolation. A decisive factor in this divergence was Cousteau’s entrepreneurial engagement with emerging television markets, which transformed underwater exploration into a scalable media enterprise and provided the structural basis for his enduring visibility. Overall, the analysis suggests that maritime memory is shaped less by scientific merit alone than by the ways media, politics, and economic scalability stabilize certain cultural narratives. These dynamics have produced asymmetrical legacies that continue to shape how ocean exploration is remembered and imagined today.

Zenodo
Wilko HardenbergJun 17, 2025

H-Oceans just published a very kind review by Christine Keiner of my book Sea Level: A History (University of Chicago Press, 2024).

What I can definitely agree on are the compliments to the jacket designer, Rae Ganci Hammers, for a stunningly beautiful cover.

https://networks.h-net.org/group/reviews/20071022/keiner-hardenberg-sea-level-history

#envhist #histsci #oceanhist

Wilko HardenbergJan 24, 2025

Forbes published a nice new review of my latest book: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2025/01/23/new-book-offers-reality-check-on-sea-level-rise/

“In a revelatory new book, Sea Level: A History, author Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, […], deftly chronicles just how difficult it was to come up with a standard method of measuring mean sea level. In the process, Hardenberg gives us a richly detailed yet very accessible history of how over five centuries, the concept of measuring mean sea level was a painstaking process that advanced in fits and starts.”

#envhist #histsci #oceanhist #bluehumanities

New Book Offers Reality Check On Sea Level Rise

Sea level rise due to human induced climate change is a hot button topic. But as a new book reveals, its history has long been a struggle.

Forbes
Wilko HardenbergDec 21, 2024
That’s nice, my book Sea Level was listed as one of the top #ocean books of 2024 by Dialogue.Earth: https://dialogue.earth/en/ocean/reading-the-seas-our-top-ocean-books-of-2024/ #envhist #histsci #oceanhist
Reading the seas: Our top ocean books of 2024

Dialogue Earth’s team have been reading up on ancient monsters, rising waters, murky depths and more – here are a few of their choice picks

Dialogue Earth
Wilko HardenbergJul 23, 2024
Just in with the mail! #envhist #oceanhist #histsci Thanks to #UniversityOfChicagoPress for the opportunity to publish with them https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo221935080.html
Sea Level

Traces a commonplace average—sea level—from its origins in charting land to its emergence as a symbol of global warming.   News reports warn of rising sea levels spurred by climate change. Waters inch ever higher, disrupting delicate ecosystems and threatening island and coastal communities. The baseline for these measurements—sea level—may seem unremarkable, a long-familiar zero point for altitude. But as Wilko Graf von Hardenberg reveals, the history of defining and measuring sea level is intertwined with national ambitions, commercial concerns, and shifting relationships between people and the ocean.  Sea Level provides a detailed and innovative account of how mean sea level was first defined, how it became the prime reference point for surveying and cartography, and how it emerged as a powerful mark of humanity’s impact on the earth. With Hardenberg as our guide, we traverse the muddy spaces of Venice and Amsterdam, the coasts of the Baltic Sea, the Panama and Suez canals, and the Himalayan foothills. Born out of Enlightenment studies of physics and quantification, sea level became key to state-sponsored public works, colonial expansion, Cold War development of satellite technologies, and recognizing the climate crisis. Mean sea level, Hardenberg reveals, is not a natural occurrence—it has always been contingent, the product of people, places, politics, and evolving technologies. As global warming transforms the globe, Hardenberg reminds us that a holistic understanding of the ocean and its changes requires a multiplicity of reference points.   A fascinating story that revises our assumptions about land and ocean alike, Sea Level calls for a more nuanced understanding of this baseline, one that allows for new methods and interpretations as we navigate an era of unstable seas.

University of Chicago Press
Dominik Huenniger 🏳️‍🌈Jun 9, 2023
From 1 August I will be curator for #innovation research at the German Port Museum Hamburg @histmuseenhh. Excited & look forward to combine #envhum , #STS, #HistKnow , #HandsOnHistory , #CoCuration & (a wee bit #oceanhist ) to help shape a transformative & sustainable #museum
Dolly JørgensenApr 13, 2023
There’s still time to apply for a PhD student position in Cultural or Public History of the Ocean. 3 years paid position to do research leading to a PhD. Will be affiliated with Greenhouse Center. Norwegian case or language is *not* required. Deadline is April 21.
#envhist #oceanhist #histodons
https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/241006/phd-fellowship-in-history-cultural-history-of-the-ocean-public-history-of-the-ocean
PhD Fellowship in History – Cultural History of the Ocean / Public History of the Ocean (241006) | University of Stavanger

Job title: PhD Fellowship in History – Cultural History of the Ocean / Public History of the Ocean (241006), Employer: University of Stavanger, Deadline: Friday, April 21, 2023

Jobbnorge.no