2 days ago
- Science
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish church window tribute to astronaut's inspiration
It commemorates the Linlithgow-born scientist Charles Wyville Thomson and his 1872 voyage that inspired space missions and astronauts of the 20th century.
This voyage was named the Challenger Expedition, which laid the foundation for the field of oceanography over 150 years ago as the world's first exploration of the deep sea.
It was a global expedition that sailed across the Atlantic, then to Australia and Hong Kong. They measured the ocean's depth, collected samples, and discovered all manner of new sea creatures, such as the pink New Zealand Lobster pictured in the bottom right of the St Michael's window.
Another major discovery was the deepest part of the ocean, which they named the Challenger Deep, now known as part of the Mariana Trench. This mission is famous in the scientific community, and the parallels of travelling to the very edge of human knowledge made Challenger the perfect name for Nasa's latest space shuttle in 1982.
One astronaut who flew on this shuttle was Kathy Sullivan, but her connection to this name was not limited to this flight to space.
Kathy Sullivan in 1984. (Image: Getty Images) Before she was an astronaut, Sullivan was a student of oceanography in California, and was inspired by the Linlithgow-born lead scientist Wyville Thomson during her studies.
'Charles Wyville Thomson and the Challenger expedition founded the field of oceanography as a study, shifting what had been myth and speculation into a scientifically rigorous endeavour," she said.
"But it means an awful lot to me because that's the field that I ended up finding my direction, finding my career, and finding a lifetime's worth of satisfaction. So I am forever grateful to Wyville Thomson and the Challenger expedition.'
Read more:
To later fly on the Challenger Shuttle to space was a great coincidence for her. She was also the first woman to both travel to space and the deepest part of the ocean, when she dived down to the Challenger Deep in 2020.
Sullivan's trip to Scotland was an invitation from Alan Miller, a church member of St Michael's, who sought to reunite this piece of history with the space industry that carried on its namesake.
Alan Miller in St Michael's Church. (Image: Gordon Terris) It included a fine dinner social at Hopetoun House and a visit to the Edinburgh University archives, where Wyville Thomson was a professor.
'I've never been to Linlithgow before, I've been to Scotland a few other times, but not to this village and not to this church to see that great east window and get more deeply into the story of Thomson and the vessel and the expedition," Sullivan said. "It's really been a fun coming-full-circle for my own career arc to get to be here.'
She was also joined on the trip by Lance Bush, a former Nasa engineer, and CEO of the Challenger Centre in Washington DC, created after the shuttle exploded in 1986.
'The Challenger Centre was created by the families of the legendary crew of space shuttle Challenger 51-L, who were tragically lost," Bush said. "Over the almost four decades since it was created, Challenger Centre has inspired and engaged over 6.5 million students, with its network of centres across the US and also in several other countries.'
Kathy speaks to the church. (Image: Graham Black) Bush connected with the Challenger window on a similar level to Sullivan.
'As a space enthusiast, it all comes together for me with the representation of the cosmos at the top of the window," he said. "This window provides such a unique perspective not often seen in church stained glass … I am in awe of all the generations of explorers that came before us, and realize the necessity for us as a society to continue that spirit.'
The Challenger window as a whole is a representation of creation, complete with the bottom of the oceans, angels, and the stars in outer space. As Scotland returns to the business of expedition with the newly-announced Shetland satellite launchsite, the celebration of delving into the unknown and pushing the limits of human knowledge is as poignant and meaningful as ever.
