Episode 16 – John Huth: The Map Hidden in the Waves

Ever Wondered How You’d Navigate the Ocean With No Compass, No GPS, and No Land in Sight? Well this episode once again proves the importance of maintaining indigenous knowledge.That question led Bonner Professor John Huth, Harvard physicist and renowned member of the team that discovered the Higgs boson, into an entirely different field of research — mapping the ocean waves that Indigenous Marshallese navigators use to navigate their many atolls.In this episode we discuss: How Marshallese navigators sail between islands by feeling subtle changes in the direction of swells.The challenge of turning experiential, embodied knowledge into something that can be mapped without reducing its cultural meaning.Why he teaches a course on navigation that blends science, history, and Indigenous techniques — and why it resonates today.How sensor data, drift measurements, and hand-drawn charts can help visualize a navigation system most of us have never encountered.If we can map the wave structures that navigators feel, we can help preserve a knowledge system that’s at risk of disappearing — and better understand how humans read their environment.This episode is for anyone interested in mapping, ocean science, traditional knowledge systems, or how we make sense of place.

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