The discovery of the coelacanth
Witness History10 Des 2025

The discovery of the coelacanth

In 1938, South African museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer discovered a coelacanth, a fish that was believed to have been extinct for 65 million years.

It is thought to be our ancestor and the missing link between how fish evolved into four-legged amphibians.

Produced and presented by Rachel Naylor in collaboration with BBC Archives.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: A coelacanth. Credit: Hoberman Collection / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Episoder(2000)

The Battle of the Beanfield

The Battle of the Beanfield

On 1 June 1985, a convoy of New Age Travellers set off for the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge in the south of England. They were planning to hold a festival there for the summer solstice, but they...

30 Mai 202510min

The legacy of The Pirate Bay

The legacy of The Pirate Bay

On 31 May 2006, police launched one of the largest raids in Swedish history, seizing servers from The Pirate Bay - a hugely popular but highly controversial file-sharing website.Co-founder Peter Sunde...

29 Mai 202510min

Chinua Achebe’s revolutionary book Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe’s revolutionary book Things Fall Apart

In 1958 Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe, published his first book, Things Fall Apart. Set in pre-colonial rural Nigeria, it examines how the arrival of foreigners led to tensions within traditional Igb...

28 Mai 20259min

The Tragically Hip's final gig

The Tragically Hip's final gig

In 2015, rockstar and Canadian icon Gord Downie was given months to live, after doctors found he had a terminal brain tumour. But instead of quietly exiting the stage, Gord and his band, the Tragicall...

27 Mai 20259min

'I wrote the Champions League anthem'

'I wrote the Champions League anthem'

In 1992, European football was at a turning point. The European Cup was going to be replaced with a new format: The Champions League. European football’s governing body, Uefa wanted a classical theme...

26 Mai 202510min

Vivian Maier: Secret street photographer

Vivian Maier: Secret street photographer

It is only since Vivian Maier's death in 2009 that the 150,000 photographs she rarely showed to anyone have come to light. Working as a nanny in the suburbs of Chicago in the United States in the 1950...

23 Mai 202510min

The founding of Magnum Photos

The founding of Magnum Photos

In the aftermath of World War Two, a group of famous photographers brought their individual styles into one powerful collaboration, over a celebratory bottle of champagne. On 22 May 1947 the agency, M...

22 Mai 202510min

Martín Chambi: Peru's pioneering documentary photographer

Martín Chambi: Peru's pioneering documentary photographer

Martín Chambi is regarded as one of the most important indigenous Peruvian photographers of the 20th century. Famous for his black and white images of local Andean people and the surrounding countrysi...

21 Mai 202510min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
alt-fortalt
aftenpodden-usa
konspirasjonspodden
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
popradet
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
grenselos
wolfgang-wee-uncut
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
fladseth
synnve-og-vanessa
frokostshowet-pa-p5
min-barneoppdragelse
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
rss-dannet-uten-piano
den-politiske-situasjonen