Antarctica and the surrounding area are natural laboratories for scientific research that can not be done anywhere else on Earth. Among the unusual aspects of the continent are its harsh climate and extreme cold, frigid ice-filled oceans, vast polar ice cap and large glaciers, geologic formations and structures that are related to more northerly land masses, uniquely adapted forms of plant and animal life, and unusual meteorological phenomena. These are covered by scientific disciplines that have attracted exploration and scientific curiosity for more than a hundred years. Here is the place for the meteorologist, oceanographer, atmospheric physicist, geologist, glaciologist, seismologist, geophysicist, biologist, and zoologist, and even the people of medicine who are examining the effects of the Antarctic environment on human physiology. The research involving so many disciplines is carried out by scientists among the faculty and students of colleges and universities, government agencies and private industry.