Miles Kempton is a historian of modern science with a special interest in the history of zoology. He holds a BA from Royal Holloway, University of London, an MSc from the University of Oxford, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. His doctoral thesis, ‘London Zoo, Commercial Television, and Primate Ethology from the Launch of ITV to The Naked Ape’, is a cultural history of science broadcasting and animal behavioural research (ethology) in postwar Britain. Focusing on the dynamics of mass-mediated science, it examines the close historic links between the rise of postwar ethology and commercial entertainment - a history which casts fresh light on widespread notions of humanity’s ‘apish’ nature in the wider culture, both then and now.
At Christ’s, Miles will examine filmic constructions of the Galápagos Islands. Documentary filmmaking has been instrumental in forging modern visions of the archipelago: on the one hand, a pristine paradise for nature-loving tourists; on the other, a once-untouched ‘laboratory of evolution’ increasingly ravaged by overpopulation, mass tourism, and invasive species. Miles’s project will chart the historical interdependencies of filmmaking, conservation biology, and ecotourism in the fragile ecosystems of the Galápagos.
Publications
Kempton, Miles, ‘Commercial Television and Primate Ethology: Facial Expressions Between London Zoo and ITV’, British Journal for the History of Science, 56 (2023), 38–102, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007087422000437