big science and the transits of venus 145
States” (April 30 , 1874 ). In addition to British and American expeditions,
France organized six expeditions, Germany organized two, Russia fur-
nished no less than thirty- two, mostly domestic, and the Mexicans, Ital-
ians, and Dutch organized one overseas expedition each. Lack of coor-
dination led to inefficient distribution of observers when international
expeditions converged on identical remote locations: the desolate Ker-
guelen Islands saw no less than five expeditions (three from Britain, one
from the United States, and one from Germany), New Zealand hosted no
less than thirteen stations from four different countries, and central Japan
welcomed six stations from four countries (Sheehan and Westfall 2004 ,
236 – 39 ). A cloudy day over the Kerguelen Islands could have single-
handedly thwarted years of international preparations. This convergence
resembles similar trends in foreign aid allocations and serves a similar
need. It raises the same puzzle: why send an expedition if another ac-
tor is already paying for data collection from that location? While this
observation violates the logic of collective action, it fits the conspicuous
consumption framework. Convergence increases the broadcast efficiency
of the expedition — other observers are guaranteed to witness the expe-
dition since they will be sharing space on the same desolate island.
The redundancy of the international effort is a further demonstration
of the inefficiencies that are integral to conspicuous consumption. By tak-
ing part in the production of knowledge, actors willingly accept an avoid-
able burden. This voluntary handicap becomes a costly signal of their
relative social standing. Consequently, a major focus in cases of conspicu-
ous consumption is not who got the job done but who was seen carrying
the heaviest burden. An 1874 Times editorial describes the transit race in
these terms.
The United States lead all the other nations, in respect both to the amount
of money which her Government has contributed, and of the discomfort, not
to say dangers, of the stations she has chosen in the southern seas.... The
Germans have closely followed England and the United States in this noble
competition. (December 9 , 1874 )