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The science expedition was a group of six researchers including Danielle Rousseau whose ship ran aground on the island in 1988. All members of the expedition with the exception of Danielle Rousseau died in 1988. At the time of their arrival, Danielle was already seven months pregnant with her daughter, Alex.

Rousseau's account of the expedition

The science expedition ship was three days out of Tahiti when it picked up a transmission. It was a voice repeating the Numbers and the team changed course to investigate. The instruments malfunctioned. It was night. There was a storm with strange sounds. The ship slammed into rocks and ran aground with the hull breached beyond repair. So they made camp. They made the dugout as a temporary shelter. There is some evidence from Rousseau's maps to suggest that the dugout was actually the second camp made on the island with the first being closer to the point where the ship ran aground.

The team continued to search for the transmission source and likely began work on their map. After several weeks, they reached the Dark Territory and a member of the team named Montand lost his arm at some point. In the area near the Black Rock they found the radio tower. From her story, this would seem to have been about six weeks after their arrival on the Island.

On the way back from the Black Rock, there was an as yet unexplained encounter. Danielle mysterously says "It was them. They were the carriers. The Others." She believes that the other members of the team contracted the sickness from the Others. She later claimed that at least up to the time she had met Sayid, she had never seen one of the Others but only heard them as whispers in the jungle. Because of this, there is no way to know if what she calls the Others are the same as the people who onced lived at the Barracks.

After returning to the shelter, some of the team continued to search for the meaning of the numbers while they waited for rescue. But then the sickness came. Danielle eventually killed Robert who she claimed was sick by first removing the firing pin from his gun and engaging him in a confrontation where she shot him dead.

Rousseau explained her motivations for killing the other members of the team as follows: "I had no choice. They were already lost. What would have happened if we were rescued? I couldn't let that happen. I won't."

She claims that after her team was all dead, she went back to the radio tower and changed the transmission. This would seem to have occurred around two months after their arrival on the Island. The radio tower message suggests that another person (Brennan) was alive and had taken some keys. She also says that "it [or he] killed them all" and that "it [or he] was outside her location when she was recording her message."

Rousseau gave birth to a daughter Alexandra unaided, and the two were together but a week before Danielle saw a pillar of black smoke about five kilometers inland. That night, she claims that the Others came and took her baby.

Danielle continued to live in isolation on the Island for the next 16 years.

Known team members

• Danielle Rousseau
• Robert - Danielle's lover.
• Montand - lost his arm in the Dark Territory.

Probable Team Members

• Brennan - mentioned as having taken the keys in Danielle's distress signal but Danielle has never confirmed that he was part of the team.

Unanswered questions

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Science expedition/Theories

• What was the science expedition intending to study?
• Who were the members of the team? Where did they come from? Who were they working for?
• What caused their sickness?

See also

• A-Missions