FREDERICK LAW OLMSTEAD: THE ACCIDENTAL RENAISSANCE MAN

New York, NY (November 5, 2012) - Justin Martin, the author of Genius Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmstead, will detail the life of this remarkable man who is best remembered as the visionary designer of Central Park. As a journalist, Olmstead worked for the New York Times at its earliest incarnation, and traveled through the South to chronicle slavery and plantation life. His close observation of the institution of slavery turned him into a fiery abolitionist aiding the free-soilers during the Bloody Kansas struggles.

Olmstead played a key role in the preservation of Niagara Falls, Yosemite and other wild places, as well as leading a medical unit that served as the forerunner of the Red Cross. He settled into landscape architecture in his mid-40's, and his masterful designs include Prospect Park, The U.S. Capitol Grounds, Stanford University's Campus, and the Biltmore Estate.

November 5th, Monday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with a valid academic ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

The Explorers Club

46 East 70th Street (b/w Park and Madison Ave.)

New York, NY 10021

212.628.8383 

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 Wind, Pyramids and Obelisks: Using Winds to Make the Megaliths of Egyptian Antiquity

New York, NY (June 4, 2012) - Famed National Geographic expedition leader and innovator, Dr. Maureen Clemmons, developed a theory that the ancient Egyptians, being sailors, used the wind to erect their monuments, and tested this theory on a small scale using a 400-lb. obelisk and some store-bought kites. Despite the resounding success of this Goddard-esque field work and mathematical models, skeptics abounded and could not get Egyptologists to even evaluate the idea. She defied these criticisms by collaborating with California Institute of Technology's aeronautics professor, Dr. Morteza Gharib, in constructing a 3.4-ton obelisk that was lifted off the ground with two men in 25 seconds. Her story is one of perseverance in the face of skepticism - the importance of innovative thought and its translation into reality using all available resources.

June 4th, Monday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with a valid academic ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

The Explorers Club

46 East 70th Street (b/w Park and Madison Ave.)

New York, NY 10021

212.628.8383

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HUNTING FOR PLANETS AROUND NEARBY STARS

 

New York, NY (May 31, 2012) - The Carnegie Institution of Washington Department of Terrestrial Magnetism’s staff scientist Paul Butler has focused on improving the measurement precision of stellar Doppler velocities, from 300 meters per second in the 1980s to 1 meter per second in 2010. This technique detects the tiny wobbles stars undergo from the gravitational tugs of orbiting planets. Butler designed and built the iodine absorption cell system at Lick Observatory which resulted in the discovery of five of the first six known extra-solar planets. He and his colleagues found most of the first 200 such planets with this instrument, which has become the de facto standard for precision Doppler studies. It has been adopted by teams at the University of Texas, Harvard, and elsewhere in Europe and Japan. In addition, he has also discovered hundreds of extra-solar planets, including the first planet to transit its host star, the first sub-Saturn mass planets, the first Neptune-mass planet, and the first terrestrial-mass planet. This work has been featured on several front page articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, as well as a TIME magazine cover story.



May 31st, Thursday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: FREE!!!

Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

 

The Explorers Club

46 East 70th Street (b/w Park and Madison Ave.)

New York, NY 10021

212.628.8383

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EXPLORERS CLUB LECTURE SERIES: "To the Arctic"



Please note that this event is now SOLD OUT.

 

New York, NY (May 21, 2012) - Professional nature and wildlife photographer Florian Schulz's presentation will be of an ecosystem of surprising richness, showcasing a pageant of wildlife - oddly captivating shapes of muskoxen, waves of migrating caribou, and some of the most extraordinary images ever captured of a mother polar bear and her cubs. Schulz's imagery, accompanied by his personal fieldwork series, explore the remarkable diversity of life in the arctic.



May 21st, Monday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with a valid academic ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

The Explorers Club

46 East 70th Street (b/w Park and Madison Ave.)

New York, NY 10021

212.628.8383



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EXPLORERS CLUB LECTURE SERIES: "Quest for Yosemite in the Sixties"

New York, NY (May 14, 2012) - The sheer granite walls of Yosemite Valley have drawn many types of visitors over the decades. But they particularly galvanized a dedicated group of climbers, who saw the nearly hold-less, glacier-polished faces as the purest form of challenge. The late 1950s ushered a new era of rock climbing later known as the Golden Age of Yosemite climbing. During this period, the climbers of the sixties developed the techniques, tools and philosophies that made Yosemite the most important and influential rock climbing arena in the world. They dropped out of the mainstream of work and society and took up residence in Camp 4, perfecting the skills and developing a unique social scene. This austere, boulder-strewn campground became the epicenter of the climbing world. In between spectacular feats carried out on the walls, it served both as a launching pad for further adventures and refuge from them. Join Glen Denny as he takes you on a climbing and cultural journey.

 

May 14th, Monday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with a valid academic ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Explorers Club

46 East 70th Street (b/w Park and Madison Ave.)

New York, NY 10021

212.628.8383

 

 

 

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EXPLORERS CLUB FILM SERIES: Robert Redford's "Watershed"

 

Film Preview:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mcHrzOImoY

Film Website:  http://watershedmovie.com/

 New York, NY (May 10, 2012) - Produced and narrated by Robert Redford, Watershed explores a new potential ethic for water-stressed areas of the American West. In order to raise awareness of this crisis, Redford collaborated with his son James to produce an environmental documentary focused on the plight of the Colorado River System - can we meet the needs of a growing population in the face of rising temperatures and lower rainfall in an already arid land? Can we find harmony among the competing interests of cities, agriculture, industry, recreation, wildlife, and indigenous communities with rights to the water?

 May 10th, Thursday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with a valid academic ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

The Explorers Club

46 East 70th Street (b/w Park and Madison Ave.)

New York, NY 10021

212.628.8383

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EXPLORERS CLUB LECTURE SERIES: "To the Last Breath"

Please note that this event is now SOLD OUT.

New York, NY (May 7, 2012) -  This presentation from Francis Slakey will be about going to extremes, as well as his rigorous twelve year quest to complete what he called “the first global surf-n-turf.” Slakey will take us from the peaks of Mount Everest, Denali, and Puncak Jaya to the beaches of Bali, Morocco and Norway. As Slakey systematically conquers each milestone, unexpected encounters with danger and death forever changed his perspective – and his life.

 May 7th, Monday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with a valid academic ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

The Explorers Club

46 East 70th Street (b/w Park and Madison Ave.)

New York, NY 10021

212.628.8383

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EXPLORERS CLUB LECTURE SERIES: Laos and Myanmar

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT.

New York, NY (April 30, 2012) - Frederick Selby's presentation will describe the principle Buddhist and other important sites of Myanmar and Laos, after receiving permission to trek north from Putao in Kachin Province (northeastern Myanmar). Selby, along with eight other individuals, hiked through thick tropical foliage and over hills to reach a beautiful and seldom dwelled isolated village occupied by the Lisu people. Selby will also discuss Myanmar and Laos’ recent changes - the countries' histories and their future, post formal diplomatic relations during U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit in December, 2011.


April 30th, Monday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with a valid academic ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.











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EXPLORERS CLUB LECTURE SERIES: Unveiled Secrets of China's Taklamakan Desert

New York, NY (April 23, 2012) - Author Christoph Baumer's lecture involves the archaeological results from his winter 2009 expedition to the heart of China's Taklamakan Desert, where he discovered an Iron Age graveyard that indicate links to nomadic steppe cultures much further north, along with a Bronze Age necropolis that revealed a surprising fertility cult and a 4,000-year-old unknown archaeological horizon. The naturally mummified corpses he found bore clear Indo-European traits, and the sites witness the existence of "Silk and Jade Road" trade routes 2,000 to 4,000 years old. 

April 23rd, Monday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with a valid academic ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

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The National Geographic/The Explorers Club/PBS Present the Preview Screening of "BONES OF TURKANA"

IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2150187/

New York, NY (April 16, 2012) - For over 40 years, Dr. Richard Leakey has scoured the badlands around Kenya's Lake Turkana, searching for fossil clues that reveal how we became human. This new, award winning documentary from the National Geographic for PBS follows Leakey's team across this landscape of parched grandeur in Africa's Great Rift Valley. Not only do we discover insights into the revolution that led an upright ape species to dominate the earth, but Leakey's team finds other clues, such as fossil pollen, which indicate this landscape was once wooded and lush, with bountiful water resources. What might this evidence of our past tell us about the future?

The film was produced, directed and written by Explorers Club member John Heminway, who was elected to the club in June 1966, having been seconded Lowell Thomas. Heminway noted that much of the archival footage within the film was made by him in 1972 for Survival Anglia which was the first full-length film ever made about Richard Leakey's work at Lake Turkana, formerly known as Lake Rudolf.

Wine, beers and cheese platters will be served at the reception; popcorn will be served during the movie.

April 16th, Monday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with a valid academic ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

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EXPLORERS CLUB LECTURE SERIES: Plastic Ocean with Captain Charles Moore

New York, NY (April 9, 2012) - Follow the inspirational story of an un-credentialed but committed "citizen-scientist," Capt. Charles Moore, who will unveil the grim unintended consequences of man’s unthinking love affair with plastics, describing the damaging "plastic footprint" left in its wake. On his routine homeward cruise from Hawaii to California in 1997, Capt. Moore kept spotting plastic scraps and fragments on the ocean surface, which astonishingly proved to outweigh the natural food base plankton by a ratio of 6:1. He learned that insidiously durable and potentially toxic plastics have crept into every corner of our lives, and tumbled by the millions of tons into the natural world where they do great harm to wildlife.

April 9th, Monday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org. 

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EXPLORERS CLUB LECTURE SERIES WITH DEE BREGER: Taiga Burning Bright - A Centennial Expedition to Tunguska

New York, NY (April 2, 2012) - Join us with Dee Breger and her colleagues, The Holocene Impact Working Group, in commemorating the 100th anniversary of the mysterious fireball that exploded over the remote Stony Tunguska River in 1908 - the blast that charred and flattened millions of trees in a radiating pattern and brightened European nights for days afterward. But even with dozens of hypotheses - some real, some crackpot - its exact same nature has never been solved. This photo-based presentation details their hazardous adventure and shows some of the microscopic evidence for the most plausible explanation, a comet or asteroid that exploded in the atmosphere that may or may not have shot soft fragments into the taiga below.

April 2nd, Monday
Check-In and Open Bar at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

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SATURDAY SCIENCE WITH RICH WILKENS: Oh, the Gall of it! Insect Gall Diversity and Ecology

New York, NY (March 24, 2012) - There are few interactions in nature more exquisite than that between gall makers and their plants. Gall-making insects have the remarkable ability to utterly modify the genetic expression of plants. Indeed, they are able to usurp the genetic machinery of the plant and force it to construct a fully functional plant organ whose sole function is to provide protection and nourishment for the wasp. In the Long Island Pine Barrens there is a diverse assemblage of gall-makers that target mostly oaks and hickories. The gall-makers come from two groups of insects: Cynipid wasps and Cecidomyiid midge flies. That a great number of gall types exist in Long Island is well-known. We know virtually nothing else about the biology of gall-makers. In this talk, Richard Wilkens will share his work on scrub oak (Quercus Ilicifolia) in which he will sample five populations over five years for any and all gall-makers he could find. One remarkable and fortuitous discovery of this study was the utter and complete collapse of the entire gall assemblage in three of the sites after an early-season gypsy moth defoliation event in 2006. This research also shows how spatial heterogeneity strongly influence the community makeup of the gall-maker assemblage. Finally, Wilkens will present his work on the natural history and ecology of one type of Cynipid, the scrub oak gall-maker (Amphibilops Ilicifoliae). One key finding is that the rate of mortality due to attack by natural enemies is greater than 50% and, by some measures, above 70%. He will posit some possible ecological explanations for such a high mortality rate.

March 24th, Saturday at 9am
Reservation Notes: $10 for Explorers Club members and the public; free for students with ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

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EXPLORERS CLUB LECTURE SERIES WITH DAVID GEORGE HASKELL - The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature

New York, NY (March 26, 2012) -  David George Haskell will describe the outcome of an unconventional experiment in scientific and aesthetic exploration: he watched one square meter of old growth forest for a year, using his skills as an ecologist and evolutionary biologist to understand the workings of the forest. This lecture illustrates the insights that he gained from this experiment. He discusses the nature of communication in the forest, explaining how quiet observation opened the acoustic and chemical "social network" among the living organisms in the forest. The emphasis of this talk is scientific, but Haskell also reflects on humanity's relationship to forests, suggesting that contemplative practices in nature offer one way to integrate science and ethics.

March 26th, Monday
Check-In at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org. 

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THE EXPLORERS CLUB ELECTS ALAN NICHOLS AS PRESIDENT

Media Contact:

Jeff Blumenfeld

Director of Communications
The Explorers Club
jblumenfeld@explorers.org
203.655.1600, c 203.326.1200

THE EXPLORERS CLUB ELECTS ALAN NICHOLS AS PRESIDENT

New York, NY (March 21, 2012) - One day after The Explorers Club held its 108th annual dinner at the Waldorf Astoria on March 17, the international exploration society's board of directors selected Alan Nichols, from Belvedere, CA, as its 38th president since the Club was founded in 1904.

Nichols, 82, an explorer who specializes in Tibet and China, and the world's sacred mountains, replaced Lorie Karnath, who served the club for three years.

Shortly after the selection, Nichols praised the achievements of Karnath during her tenure as Club president. "Lorie Karnath has delivered to the new administration a Club in pristine condition, with a refurbished building. She has added important sponsors, enhanced relations with our worldwide chapters and created plans to continue the protection of our museum-quality headquarters," Nichols said.

Nichols has served The Explorers Club at the chapter level and in a variety of officer- and committee-level positions where he has gained a reputation as a motivating speaker and the ability to moderate differences between conflicting ideas among often strong-willed explorers.

He plans to expand upon the Club's ability to support field expeditions for which the Club has become famous. Initial goals are to encourage increased membership and secure new sources of funding and in-kind support, especially now that "exploration is so active in these times of expanded technology," Nichols said. "Where world field exploration intersects with 21st century communications, that's where you'll find our membership."

Nichols' experiences and knowledge of Tibet come from many years of study and journeys to the sacred mountains of Bhutan, China, Kashmir, Ladakh ("Little Tibet"), Nepal, and Sikkim. He was the first Westerner to circumambulate sacred Mt. Kailas in southwestern Tibet after Tibet was opened to foreigners. He was also the first to bicycle the entire Silk Road from Xian, China's historic capital, to the Mediterranean, a feat achieved in four stages from 2001-08 with the help of his wife and others.

Nichols is author of many books including "To Climb a Sacred Mountain" (Illuminated Way Press, 1979), which he wrote under a pen name. It was the first book to establish the relationship between religions and mountains.

Nichols served as president of The Sacred Mountain Foundation, San Francisco, and is former president of the San Francisco School Board and City College of San Francisco. He is a graduate of Stanford University and Stanford Law School, and has practiced law for 50 years in San Francisco.

Nichols resides in Belvedere (Marin County) with his wife Becky, who, between them, have six children and four grand children.







About the Explorers Club

The Explorers Club was founded in New York City 1904 by a group of the world's leading explorers of the time. It is a multidisciplinary, not for profit (501c-3) organization to scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural and biological sciences. The Club's members have been responsible for illustrious series of famous firsts: first to the North Pole, first to the South Pole, first to the summit of Mount Everest, first to the deepest point in the ocean, first to the surface of the moon. With 3,000 members worldwide, the organization headquartered at 46 east 70th Street, New York, N.Y. 10021. Tel. 212 628 8383; www.explorers.org.

Explorers Club Movie Night with Fraser Heston: The Search for Michael Rockefeller

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1701226/

New York, NY (March 19, 2012) - Post-Explorers Club Annual Dinner, the club presents filmmaker Fraser Heston’s The Search for Michael Rockefeller. In 2007, Heston discovered a lost cache of unedited 1969 footage shot by adventure author Milt Machlin, during his expedition to the cannibal coast of New Guinea in search of the lost scion, Michael Rockefeller. The film includes previously unreleased footage and eyewitness interviews, including some startling revelations which shed new light on the unresolved mystery of Michael’s disappearance. In the tradition of Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man, director Fraser Heston, producers Alex Butler and Heather J. Thomas, along with editor Ted Hughes, have created an entirely new film from Milt Machlin’s unedited epic documentary.

March 19th, Monday

Check-In at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with a valid academic ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.


Relax and unwind with fellow explorers from around the world. Open bar at check-in; popcorn will be served during the movie!

 

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Explorers Club Lecture Series with Julian Smith: Crossing the Heart of Africa - An Odyssey of Love and Adventure

New York, NY (February 27, 2012) - Few people have heard of the British explorer Ewart Grogan. Yet in his day, Grogs was famous on both sides of the Atlantic for a unique and groundbreaking feat of exploration: in 1898 - 1900, he made the first trek the length of Africa, from Cape Town to Cairo, much of it through unmapped and hostile territory, to win the hand of the woman he loved.


In 2007, award winning travel and science writer Julian Smith (Smithsonian, National Geographic, Wired, Outside, LA Times) was the first person to retrace Grogan's route from South Africa to Sudan. In his presentation, he compares the modern reality - from cellphones and endnagered wildlife to the specters of AIDS and genocide - to the world Grogan saw with its hostile cannibals, lethal animals, near-constant sickness and the ongoing tragedy of colonialism.

February 27th, Monday
Check-In at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

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Explorers Club Lecture Series with James Currie

New York, NY (February 13, 2012) - Birding Adventures TV creator James Currie describes a recent adventure in Colombia where his crew captured what may be an entirely new species of hummingbird on video. Initially identified as the long-lost Bogota Sunangel, this mysterious hummingbird has captivated the birding world. James will give us an update on DNA tests, and provide tips on hotspots where you can see the most interesting bird behavior.

February 13th, Monday
Check-In at 6pm, 7pm Start
Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383, or send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

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Lecture Series with John Vincent Bellezza

New York, NY (January 9, 2012) - The Explorers Club launches the new year with a presentation from John Vincent Bellezza, the first foreigner to circumnavigate the Celestial Lake in Tibet, and the first non-Tibetan to reach all the geographic and ritual sources of the fabled four rivers (Indus, Brahmputra, Sutlej and Karnali) that arise in south western Tibet in 1999 - five and a half month long expedition. In this lecture, Bellezza will share his experiences in Zhang Zhung, the highest altitude civilization to have taken root in the ancient world 3,000 years ago. Its sophisticated Metal Age way of life displaced the last of the Stone Age on Tibet's high plateaus. With its extensive network of citadels and necropolises, Zhang Zhung held sway until the advent of Buddhism in the seventh century CE, forming the bedrock of many Tibetan customs and tradition practiced to this day.

January 9th, Monday
Check -In at 6pm, 7pm Start

Reservation Notes: Free for Explorers Club Members; $20 for members of the public; $5 for students with ID. Reservations are suggested on a first-come first-served basis. Please call 212.628.8383 send your email to reservations@explorers.org.

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