Events & Outreach

Whether a trail map of a serene forest or a plot of historical markers in a bustling city, maps help us understand and connect to the spaces we inhabit. In so doing, maps can express or even inspire topophilia (that is, “love of place”), a powerful way to understand ourselves in relation to the ecology, culture, and other riches that surround us. But what if a map shows a place that no human has ever been to? Can we ever truly know—much less love—a distant, alien landscape with the help of a mere map? In this talk, we’ll trace the history of planetary cartography from the earliest telescope sketches to today’s high-resolution imagery and explore the indelible link between maps and humanity’s fascination with space, whether in the pages of science fiction or guiding our boldest quests into the final frontier.

Sam Cartwright is a PhD candidate with the Department of Geological Sciences and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. His research focuses on the composition of icy landscapes at Mars’s south pole and what this can tell us about the planet’s evolving climate. Sam previously earned degrees in Geology from Middlebury College (BA, 2018) and the University of Nevada Reno (MS, 2021) and joined SciDome as a Facilitator in 2023. He discovered his passion for space history and public outreach while interning at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, but his love of maps goes back much further. He is a co-curator of the Topophilia exhibit now on view at the Jerry Crail Johnson Earth Sciences & Map Library.