http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/04/top-stories-science-and-slave-trade-tweeting-and-not-flying-and-snowball-earth-s-thaw

Historians expose early scientists’ debt to the slave trade

The progressive nature of science has made it hard for historians to take a critical look at its past. But researchers are starting to uncover new connections between science and the slave trade that show just how deeply intertwined they once were. In order to gain access to Africa and the Americas, for example, most early naturalists hitched a ride on a slaving ship. Now, modern scientists and historians are grappling with the horrific origins of some of the world’s most extensive natural history collections.