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Helen Czerski deploying scientific measuring devices on a research trip at the North Pole in summer 2018 (Photo: Mario Hoppmann)<\/p>\nHelen Czerski deploying scientific measuring devices on a research trip at the North Pole in summer 2018 (Photo: Mario Hoppmann)<\/p>\n
Physicist, oceanographer and author Helen Czerski talks to Jo Caird about Blue Machine, her award-winning book about the physics of our oceans<\/p>\n
By Jo Caird<\/a><\/p>\n Helen Czerski had been working at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California for just a couple of weeks when she realised she needed to take up scuba diving.<\/p>\n Having completed a PhD in explosives science, but looking for a new field of study to suit her existing experimental skillset, the physicist had recently embarked upon an academic career in the science of bubbles.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019d never thought about the ocean,\u2019 Czerski recalls. \u2018But it was very clear to me, once I\u2019d had this light-bulb moment that the ocean was a place, that I had to learn to dive.\u2019<\/p>\n Czerski progressed quickly, going from total beginner to dive master in less than three years, and training as a scientific diver from the start.<\/p>\n While she doesn\u2019t dive in the course of her own research (bubble science is largely conducted underneath breaking waves in the open ocean, not a context that is particularly conducive to safe or enjoyable scuba diving), it\u2019s an experience that has proved eye-opening in terms of Czerski\u2019s attitude to the underwater world.<\/p>\n \u2018Diving is the closest any of us will ever come to flying,\u2019 she says. \u2018You get to explore a three-dimensional world. You look at things in a very different way and that is an enormous privilege.\u2019 <\/p>\n It was this perspective that informed the writing of Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World, Czerski\u2019s highly regarded popular science book about the physics of the ocean. <\/p>\n It covers complex topics such as how the ocean stores and redistributes energy, and the passage of sound and light through water, but in a highly engaging way \u2013 accessible even to those whose last grappling with physics was many moons ago.<\/p>\n Weaved in are many engaging stories of the ways that animals and people interact with the ocean, from the Scottish herring lassies of the early 20th century to the sharks of the frigid Arctic with a lifespan of more than 250 years. <\/p>\n Blue Machine is also beautifully written, making for a hugely evocative reading experience, particularly for those of us who feel at home in the watery realm.<\/p>\n Much to Czerski\u2019s surprise, the book was recently awarded the 2024 Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. \u2018It was a shock, firstly, because I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d written a conservation book,\u2019 she says with a laugh. But winning was an \u2018enormous privilege. I see that prize as recognition that the ocean itself is interesting, one of the most interesting topics of our time.\u2019 <\/p>\n Tell us about writing Blue Machine.<\/p>\n I got a job at the Scripps Institution and soon realised that I\u2019d never thought about the physics of the ocean. I totally got the idea that this was a liquid engine, and no one had ever told me about it, and that was really annoying.<\/p>\n I went on through my postdoctoral degree and getting a fellowship, and kept learning more about the ocean and I kept getting to the point where I could see that there was a story there, there\u2019s this big thing that people aren\u2019t seeing. <\/p>\n So when I was looking for an idea for my second book [her first, Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life, was published in 2017], this was kicking around in my mind. That someone needs to talk about the physics of the ocean, because no one\u2019s doing it. <\/p>\n Also that I could see so many stories that were not being told because they didn\u2019t have a place.<\/p>\n Has the response surprised you?<\/p>\n The first reaction tends to be, \u2018I didn\u2019t know the ocean did anything\u2019. But as soon as people think about it, they get it. In retrospect, it\u2019s very good timing: people are much more aware of everything that\u2019s going wrong, but we\u2019re past the point of conservation being about lists about reusable mugs and plastic straws. <\/p>\n The world is big and complicated, and people want to see the big picture. They want frameworks to understand the world that allow them to make decisions. And partly it\u2019s just that people like hearing about worms with 1,000 anuses!<\/p>\n I\u2019m very grateful for the response that it\u2019s had. You write a science book and you expect that it\u2019s going to get to a science-curious audience. This has gone so much further, and I didn\u2019t expect that. <\/p>\n There are two novels that were out this year that have been long-listed for the Booker Prize, which cite Blue Machine as an influence! Suddenly, it feels like there\u2019s a lot of responsibility, which is easier after you\u2019ve written it than it is as you\u2019re going along.<\/p>\n Did you feel a pressure to present solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises?<\/p>\n My role is not to suggest solutions, although there are some obvious ones. My role in this is to say, \u2018Look at the world. This is what it is, and this is how it works. You take that perspective and you make your own decisions.\u2019 <\/p>\n There\u2019s hundreds of books listing all the things you can do and should do and the world can do and should do. But the reason they are not ever going to work without at least some books like mine, is that they don\u2019t make sense unless you\u2019ve got a bigger perspective. And if you have a bigger perspective, you\u2019ll work that out for yourself.<\/p>\n The thing that we\u2019re missing is these frameworks on what it means to be a citizen of planet Earth, in a part of a physical system that works like this. Because we live by Earth\u2019s rules \u2013 we\u2019ve got to work with it and not against it. Other people can suggest solutions. <\/p>\n I\u2019m not in that game, other than decarbonising and not destroying biology \u2013 those two things are very important. But just telling people doesn\u2019t change their mind, showing them why it might matter, that changes minds. <\/p>\n What I want to do is show people the physical world as it is, and to show how interconnected is and beautiful it is, and then people will take that and do things.<\/p>\n What has diving given you, as an oceanographer?<\/p>\n A healthy fear of things looming! One of the most terrifying things that has happened to me underwater \u2013 and this won\u2019t be unfamiliar to anyone who dives in the UK, I\u2019m sure \u2013 is diving HMCS Yukon, which is a big warship that was sunk off the coast of San Diego in really turbid water.<\/p>\n You went down the rope and couldn\u2019t see anything. You\u2019d wait at the bottom and then there\u2019s a moment where the soup clears and suddenly there\u2019s this huge, great big battleship.<\/p>\n I hated that moment, it was just awful. But it was a very interesting reminder that we are visual creatures, and the ocean is not a visual place. <\/p>\n Obviously, if I had been a dolphin, I would have known that thing was there all along, because there would have been socking great audio reflection off it. But I was relying on senses that just aren\u2019t very useful underwater, certainly in coastal areas where you\u2019ve got very turbid water. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a reinforcement that you are not evolved for this environment. None of the ocean creatures would have experienced what I did. I was out of my place.<\/p>\n Diving also gives me a visceral understanding of movement, because you feel surge, you feel currents pulling you along. That feeling of the ocean as moving and doing things, and that this is not just a passive pond.<\/p>\n And then just the privilege of seeing a different world. An octopus is the closest any of us are ever going to come to seeing alien life. <\/p>\n It amazes me that people go on and on about a possible chemical signature of something that possibly might be related to life on some exoplanet \u2013 it\u2019s like, \u2018There\u2019s an octopus! Have you seen an octopus hunting?\u2019 <\/p>\n Entirely independently evolved intelligence, evolved for a different world, for a different set of physical constraints. Why would you not want to go and visit an alien planet?<\/p>\n When you\u2019re put in the ocean, you see not only that your point of view doesn\u2019t matter at all, but that there are so many different ways of solving these physical problems. <\/p>\n You see how the world looks if you just shift the rules differently. Experiencing that is a wonderful thing.<\/p>\n What will divers in particular get out of reading your book?<\/p>\n The thing about humans diving is that we only get to dabble around the edges. So even if you\u2019ve had the privilege of seeing some of this underwater life, and you know what a living sponge looks like, seeing how that connects to the global picture is still something you\u2019ve got to do in your imagination, really, more than in person.<\/p>\n But I think what you can do in person is imagine the connection. Once you know what to look for, you can see the connection. <\/p>\n For example, on remote islands in the middle of big oceans, sharks are often quite important in fertilising the reef, because they feed out at sea, and then they come into the reef to rest and to breed, and shark poo is fertiliser. <\/p>\n So then when you see a shark in that environment, it\u2019s not just something which is exciting because it\u2019s a big animal, you\u2019re actually seeing the connection.<\/p>\n For divers, reading my book will hopefully change the way they see the world they already think they know. You can imagine the connections with the outside world. <\/p>\n Rather than just being a creature that goes past, it\u2019s a part of a bigger, physical engine. You\u2019re seeing the tip of the iceberg, but then hopefully you\u2019ll have some of the tools to imagine the things it\u2019s connected to.<\/p>\n More great reads from our magazine<\/p>\n![\"coral](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock_1365580217.webp.webp\")
Coral growth on HMCS Yukon, a wreck that Helen has dived off the coast of San Diego, USA (Photo: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Helen_working_on_buoy_IMG_1925_Credit_Dariia_Atamanchuk.webp.webp\")
Helen working on a buoy used for her bubble science research (Photo: Dariia Atamanchuk)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock_1828457378.webp.webp\")
Helen has fond memories of assisting with a friend\u2019s research on the reefs of the Dutch Caribbean island of Cura\u00e7ao (Photo: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock_1867449004.webp.webp\")
The kelp forests off California were some of Helen\u2019s first experiences as a diver (Photo: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock_17309893.webp.webp\")
Helen is fascinated by the independently evolved intelligence of octopuses (Photo: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
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