Paper short abstract:

Based on an analysis of historical glaciological maps together with recent reports and interviews with glaciologists, the paper demonstrates how historical maps, in addition to having considerable artistic and aesthetic value, continue to serve as important points of scientific reference.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on the history of the production and use of two celebrated maps, that of the Fedchenko Glacier in the Central Asian Pamirs (1928) and of the Nanga Parbat massif and the Rakhiot Glacier in the Himalaya (1934). These maps, both produced by the Bavarian glaciologist and cartographer Richard Finsterwalder (1899-1963), were two of the first examples of precise glacial surveying made possible by Sebastian Finsterwalder’s improvements to the phototheodolite and high-altitude photogrammetry. The paper argues that these developments in topographical surveying were central to the emergence of glaciers as objects of scientific inquiry, and that these two maps in particular, by establishing a reliable baseline for modern studies of glacial recession in these regions, were crucial to knowledge production in climate change research. Based on an analysis of the maps themselves together with recent reports and interviews with glaciologists, the paper demonstrates that Finsterwalder’s maps, in addition to having considerable artistic and aesthetic value, continue to serve as important points of scientific reference.