History of Science Museum, Oxford

The History of Science Museum in Broad Street, Oxford, England, holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum building is also known as the Old Ashmolean Building to distinguish it from the newer Ashmolean Museum building completed in 1894. The museum was built in 1683, and it is the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum.

History of Science Museum

The Old Ashmolean Building as it stands today
History of Science Museum, Oxford
Established	1683 (as Ashmolean Museum) 1924 (as Lewis Evans Collection 1935 (as Museum of the History of Science)
Location	Broad Street, Oxford, England
Coordinates	51°45′16″N 1°15′19″W / 51.75443°N 1.25519°W / 51.75443; -1.25519
Type	University museum of the history of science
Visitors	148,412 (2019)^[1]
Director	Silke Ackermann
Website	History of Science Museum

History

Built in 1683 to house Elias Ashmole's collection, the building was the world's first purpose-built museum building and was also open to the public. The original concept of the museum was to institutionalize the new learning about nature that appeared in the 17th century and experiments concerning natural philosophy were undertaken in a chemical laboratory in the basement, while lectures and demonstration took place in the School of Natural History, on the middle floor. Ashmole's collection was expanded to include a broad range of activities associated with the history of natural knowledge.^{[citation needed]} In 1924, Lewis Evans donated his collection of historic scientific instruments, creating the Lewis Evans Collection. In 1935, with more donations, the museum's name was changed to the Museum of the History of Science. In 2018, the museum was renamed the History of Science Museum.^[2]

Collections and exhibitions

 

Einstein's Blackboard, used by Albert Einstein in a 1931 lecture in Oxford.

The collection and the building itself now occupies a special position in the study of the history of science and in the development of western culture and collecting. One of the most iconic objects in the collection is Einstein's Blackboard^[3] that Albert Einstein used on 16 May 1931 in his lectures while visiting the University of Oxford, rescued by dons including E. J. Bowen and Gavin de Beer.^[4]

The current collection contains around 18,000 objects from antiquity to the early 20th century, representing almost all aspects of the history of science and is used for both academic study and enjoyment by the visiting public. The museum contains a wide range of scientific instruments, such as quadrants, astrolabes (the most complete collection in the world with c.170 instruments), sundials, early mathematical instruments (used for calculating, astronomy, navigation, surveying and drawing), optical instruments (microscopes, telescopes and cameras), equipment associated with chemistry, natural philosophy and medicine, and a reference library regarding the history of scientific instruments that includes manuscripts, incunabula, prints and printed ephemera, and early photographic items.^{[citation needed]}

The museum shows the development of mechanical clocks. Lantern clocks and longcase clocks are exhibited in the Beeson Room, named after the antiquarian horologist Cyril Beeson (1889–1975)^[5] who gave his collection to the museum. Early turret clocks are exhibited above the stairs from the basement to the raised ground floor. The museum hold a collection of turned ivory and other objects made by Lady Gertrude Crawford.^[6]

From October 2009 until February 2010, the Museum hosted the first major exhibition of Steampunk art objects, curated by Art Donovan and presented by Dr Jim Bennett, then the museum director.^[7][8]

The museum is also home to the Rochester Avionic Archive, which includes a collection of avionics that originated with the Elliot Brothers, but also includes pieces from Marconi and BAE Systems.^[9]

Curators

 

Beevers–Lipson strips,^[10] part of the Crystals exhibition in 2014, used by Nobel Prize winner Dorothy Hodgkin for crystallography calculations at Oxford

The following have been Curator or Secretary to the Committee or Director at the museum:^[11][12]

• R. T. Gunther (1924–40)
• F. Sherwood Taylor (1940–45, temporary; 1945–50)
• C. H. Josten (1950–64; 1964–94, emeritus)
• F. R. Maddison (1964–94)
• J. A. Bennett (1994–2012)
• Stephen Johnston (acting director, 2012–14)
• Silke Ackermann (2014 onwards)

See also

• Dr Jim Bennett, the museum's former Keeper/Director (retired in 2012)
• Dr Silke Ackermann, the museum's Director (from 2014)
• Oxford University Scientific Society
• Museum of Oxford
• Whipple Museum of the History of Science, the equivalent institution at the University of Cambridge

References

 

An early radio receiver in the Museum, made by Guglielmo Marconi.

1. "ALVA - Association of Leading Visitor Attractions". www.alva.org.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
2. "History of the Museum". History of Science Museum. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
3. "Bye-bye blackboard... from Einstein and others". Museum of the History of Science.
4. Gunther, A. E. (1967). Robert T. Gunther. Early Science in Oxford. Vol. XV. Oxford. pp. 250, 436.
5. Beeson, C.F.C. (1989) [1962]. A.V., Simcock (ed.). Clockmaking in Oxfordshire 1400–1850 (3rd ed.). Oxford: Museum of the History of Science. frontispiece. ISBN 0-903364-06-9.
6. "Collection of turned ivory and other objects, by Lady Gertrude E. Crawford (MHS Record Details: IRN 8076, Inventory number 26440)". Museum of the History of Science. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
7. "Steampunk". Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. Imagine the technology of today with the aesthetic of Victorian science. From redesigned practical items to fantastical contraptions, this exhibition showcases the work of eighteen Steampunk artists from across the globe.
8. Ward, Mark (30 November 2009). "Tech Know: Fast forward to the past". Technology. BBC. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
9. "ABOUT ROCHESTER AVIONIC ARCHIVES". Rochester Avionic Archives. Rochester Avionic Archives. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
10. "Set of Beevers Lipson Strips, Sine Set, c. 1936". Oxford: Museum of the History of Science. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
11. Simcock, A. V., ed. (1985). Robert T. Gunther and the Old Ashmolean. Oxford: Museum of the History of Science. p. 93. ISBN 0-903364-04-2.
12. Fox, Robert (January 2006). "The history of science, medicine and technology at Oxford". Notes and Records of the Royal Society. 60 (1): 69–83. doi:10.1098/rsnr.2005.0129. PMID 17153170.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Museum of the History of Science, Oxford.

• History of Science Museum website