John Gascoigne was educated at Sydney (BA hons 1), Princeton (MA) and Cambridge Universities (PhD and Litt.D) and is a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He has taught in Papua New Guinea and has been at the University of NSW since 1980. His publications have dealt with the impact of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment especially in relation to eighteenth-century Pacific exploration. His most recent monographs are Captain Cook. Voyager between Worlds (Continuum, 2007), winner of the Frank Broeze biennial prize of the Australian Maritime History Association and Encountering the Pacific in the Age of the Enlightenment (Cambridge University Press, 2014), winner of the 2014 NSW Premier’s History Prize (General Category) and short-listed for the 2015 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards (Non-fiction section).

Lecture at Laperouse Museum 29th June 2016:    Viewing the Pacific through Enlightenment Eyes:  La Perouse’s fateful  voyage of 1785-8