Written by Milton Hamilton Sunday, 22 January 2012 22:51

Captain Robert Falcon Scott exhibition at London's Natural History Museum

LONDON.- Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal attended the opening of Scott's Last Expedition, the Natural History Museum's new exhibition, last night. Sir David Attenborough was there too and they both got the first glimpse of the exhibition that explores Scott's landmark Terra Nova expedition of 1910-1913. It was 100 years ago that Scott and his polar party arrived at the South Pole. They did not make it home but the team certainly left a legacy. The exhibition reunites for the first time real objects used by Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his team together with scientific specimens collected on the expedition - 40,000 of these specimens are looked after by the Museum and studied by scientists worldwide.

Visitors find out about the many amazing tales of human endurance. For example, the notorious Winter Journey to Cape Crozier to collect emperor penguin eggs - temperatures dropped so low that the men's sleeping bags were constantly frozen.

Visitors can also experience what everyday life was like with the life-size representation of the hut, which still survives in Antarctica today.

The wooden hut at Cape Evans was home for 33 men as well as having a photographic darkroom, laboratories and space for cooking.

And today, Captain Robert Falcon Scott's only grandson, Falcon Scott, is helping conserve the Antarctic base camp with a specialist conservation team.

He is visiting for the first time and gave an interview in the Antarctic conservation blog. 'I spent an hour on my own in the hut,' says Scott, 'just soaking up the atmosphere. It was magical and personally a very emotional experience.'

The Natural History Museum first opened its doors to the public on Easter Monday in 1881, but its origins go back more than 250 years. It all started when physician and collector of natural curiosities, Sir Hans Sloane, left his extensive collection to the nation in 1753.

Scott's Last Expedition exhibition is open to the public from 20th January to 2nd September at London's Natural History Museum.

Visit : www.nhm.ac.uk/

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