Historical Scientific Instruments

Lo studio della strumentazione scientifica ha conosciuto, a partire dagli anni Ottanta del XX secolo, una significativa evoluzione epistemologica, generando molteplici filoni d'indagine che hanno attraversato trasversalmente diversi ambiti disciplinari: dalla storia della scienza alla storia dell'arte, dall'economia dei beni culturali alla giurisprudenza della tutela, dalle scienze della conservazione all'archeologia degli strumenti. Tale approccio multidisciplinare ha portato a una sostanziale riconcettualizzazione degli strumenti scientifici storici: questi prodotti dell'ingegno non vengono più interpretati meramente come sussidi materiali alla sperimentazione o cristallizzazioni tangibili di paradigmi teorici, ma si manifestano nella loro natura di complessi dispositivi culturali, depositari di una stratificata semantica storico-sociale. Essi emergono, infatti, come testimonianze materiali di pratiche operative e protocolli metodologici che oltrepassano la mera dimensione tecnico-scientifica per inserirsi in un più ampio contesto socio-culturale con aspetti estetici, educativi e tecnologici. All'interno di questo rinnovato quadro interpretativo, la storiografia scientifica ha progressivamente sviluppato un filone di ricerca specificamente dedicato all'evoluzione della strumentazione, analizzando sistematicamente le trasformazioni delle diverse categorie di strumenti e della loro realizzazione materiale nel corso dei secoli. Questa evoluzione storica presenta caratteristiche distintive per ciascun periodo. In sintesi, si può affermare che nel XVI secolo gli strumenti scientifici si distinguevano non solo per la loro funzionalità nella ricerca di misure empiriche, ma anche per una notevole ricercatezza estetica, che li rendeva oggetti ambiti da mecenati e collezionisti nelle corti europee. Il secolo successivo, quello della rivoluzione scientifica, segnò una svolta decisiva con l'invenzione di strumenti innovativi quali il telescopio, il microscopio, il barometro, la pompa pneumatica e il termometro, che permisero di espandere significativamente le capacità percettive umane, aprendo nuovi orizzonti all'indagine naturale. Fu proprio questa rivoluzione strumentale a porre le basi per i

Artillery instruments appeared in the 16th century as a consequence of the development of gunpowder artillery. Until now they have not attracted the attention of the art history community, despite the fact that these skilfully made devices decorate the collections of the world's best museums: the Louvre, the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon in Dresden, the Kunstkammer Wien and the St. Petersburg Kunstkammer. The peculiarity of sighting devices is that they are both rather innovative "technical" devices and aesthetically expressive collector's items that were commissioned by the most enlightened monarchs of that epoch, reflecting their knowledge of science and symbolising power and might. The synthesis of engineering and art in artillery instruments implies a special approach to their analysis. Such a methodology was developed in the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century by specialists in "technical aesthetics". Its principles formed the basis of the present study of the composition of 16th century gunner’s levels and sights from St. Petersburg and foreign collections, which showed the congeniality of the categories of beauty of the technical aesthetics of the 20th century with the artistic conceptions of 16th century instrument makers.

ТЕХНИЧЕСКАЯ ЭСТЕТИКА И АРТИЛЛЕРИЙСКИЕ ПРИЦЕЛЬНЫЕ ПРИСПОСОБЛЕНИЯ XVI ВЕКА. ОПЫТ ПРИМЕНЕНИЯ РАЗРАБОТОК ТЕОРЕТИКОВ СОВЕТСКОГО ПРОМЫШЛЕННОГО ДИЗАЙНА К АНАЛИЗУ КОМПОЗИЦИИ.

Артиллерийские инструменты появились в XVI веке как следствие развития пороховой артиллерии. Их изучают историки науки и техники, однако до сего дня они не привлекали внимания искусствоведческого сообщества, несмотря на то, что эти искусно выполненные приспособления украшают собрания лучших музеев мира:  Лувр, Физико-математический салон в Дрездене, венская и петербургская Кунсткамеры. Особенность прицельных приспособлений в том, что это и довольно инновационные «технические» устройства, и эстетически выразительные коллекционные предметы, которые делались по заказу самых просвещенных монархов той эпохи, отражая их осведомленность в науках и символизируя власть и могущество. Синтез инженерно-конструкторского  и художественного в артиллерийских инструментах предполагает особый подход к их анализу. Такая методика  разрабатывалась в Советском Союзе во второй половине XX века специалистами по «технической эстетике». Ее принципы легли в основу настоящего исследования композиции артиллерийских прицельных приспособлений XVI столетия из петербургской и зарубежных коллекций, показавшего конгениальность категорий прекрасного технической эстетики века XX с художественными представлениями мастеров-инструменталистов XVI столетия.

Charles Darwin proved what Scientists, Scholars, burned-alive-philosophers, and intelligence, has been thinking for hundreds of years; that the creation myth of the Christian religion was False in Fact and Foundation. The Foundation of Christianity – and all god believing religions – is the priestly assumption that there was a preexisting, uncreated, unevolved, invisible, and impossible, creator-of-everything, that created the world and us. In the Christian myth, the rest of the endless Universe was an afterthought of no importance, all this in six days, and the impossible creator rested on the 7th day!
In 1859 Charles Darwin published his long and meticulous Study of the Origin of Specious, and then his study of the Evolution of Man – The Descent of Man in 1872. These two extensive studies destroyed forever the myth of life, and man, being a special creation of a preexisting creator god.
From the publication of ‘The Origin of Species’ in 1859, to World War One the struggle between the fact of Evolution, and the god-theory of creation, were in serious and constant debate. This continuous public exposure of the basic questions of Science, Freethought, and Religion in publications, lectures, debates, and public conversion, was a great stimulus of public enlightenment and thought. By 1900 the American public had embraced Freethought and Atheism to the degree that organized religion was in serious decline.
In order for religion to regain its control of American society it was necessary that all books and publications, of Atheism and Freethought be removed from Libraries, Universities, and public view. Thus the greatest feat of censorship was achieved; by the 1950s most Americans had never heard of Freethought, and Atheist information was removed, slandered and vilified into silence.
The book I present is not a part of that long debate, it is the cause of that burning question being brought into open public discussion. The studies and publications of Mr. Darwin was without thought or concern about religion, he was searching for facts: The facts he found destroyed the Christian religion.
Emmett F. Fields

PROFESSOR JACOB W. GRUBER has argued convincingly that Darwin was not the original Naturalist on H.M.S. Beagle's second voyage to survey the coasts of South America. 1 The evidence, clearly marshalled by Gruber, shows that Robert McCormick, a Royal Navy surgeon, was appointed to the Beagle for the express purpose of making natural history collections, in addition to his primary duty as Ship's Surgeon. At first the two men got on well enough, going ashore together in the Azores to collect specimens. Then at the Beagle's second port of call in South America-Rio de Janeiro-Darwin moved into lodgings ashore. As a civilian, he had no duties on board ship, and he could further his collecting, since he wanted terrestrial rather than marine specimens, by staying in port while the ship sailed on its surveying mission in local waters. The preferential treatment of Darwin by the Beagle's Captain, Robert FitzRoy, was too much for McCormick to take. He chose to be invalided back to England, there to find another ship, rather than to accept the fact that his official collections would be inferior to Darwin's private ones. McCormick had to wait until 1839, when he was appointed Surgeon and Zoologist to H.M.S. Erebus, for the long sea voyage that would give him the opportunity to make his reputation in natural history. McCormick sailed for the Antarctic with Captain James Clark Ross just after Darwin's Journal of researches-the account of the Beagle's voyage that McCormick might have written had he been granted FitzRoy's favour-brought its author public acclaim as a worthy British follower of Humboldt. No wonder McCormick could not bring himself to mention either Beagle or Darwin in his autobiography! In the pitiless eye of history it seems absurd that McCormick could have felt himself to be the equal of the man who overturned the accepted view of living nature. Had McCormick been more capable, he would have done more, on Erebus's Antarctic cruise from 1839 to 1843, than merely support the researches of his Assistant Surgeon and Botanist, Joseph Hooker. Yet few men are prepared to allow to others a greater merit than they grant themselves; they prefer, as McCormick did, to blame their poor fortune on lack of influence. He must have felt that his glorious opportunity had been usurped by Charles Darwin. His voyage on board the Beagle transformed Charles Darwin from an

Since the 1600s, the developments in the understanding of electrical phenomena have frequently altered the models and metaphors used by physicists to describe and explain their experiments. However, to this day, certain relics of past theories still drench the vocabulary of the subject, serving as distracting fog for future students. This article attempts, through historical illumination, to shine through the mist of electrostatic terminology and offer a clearer view of the classical model of electricity. Thales (624BC-546BC) William Gilbert (1544-1603) and Sir Thomas Browne (1605-82) Nature had to wait around 2200 years before any further investigation was made into amber or lodestone. In 1600, the English physicist

The objectives of the present study are to investigate both the history of the collection of scientific instruments from the Maraslean Teaching Center (MTC) and the potential for the collection's use in STEM education programs. Although MTC went by a number of different names during its long history, its institutional goal remained the same: training the Greek state's primary school teachers-to-be. To so do, it was necessary to assemble a collection of scientific instruments. The first objective of the paper is to present in detail the gradual enlargement of the collection from the last quarter of the 19 th century through to the 1930s, along with the way the instruments were used in science lessons and the central role MTC played in relation to other regional teaching schools in Greece in terms of the distribution, administration, repair and maintenance of the equipment. The second objective is to investigate the role the historical scientific instruments can play not only in the history of science, but also in contemporary science teaching. The findings reveal that the history of laboratory physics education in MTC along with the corresponding collection of the historical scientific instruments can be a fertile ground for implementing STEM education programs. Finally, the findings imply the broader integration of STEM education and history of science in order to promote cultural and procedural aspects of science in student teachers and beyond. Such integration gives rise to broader research on introducing STEM education to cultural embedded environments, such as museums and historically important schools and laboratories, such as MTC.

Since 2014 the Museum of the History of Physics of the University of Padua has been working on the study and valorisation of the collection of historical scientific instruments kept at the high school “Scipione Maffei” in Verona, one of the oldest high schools in Italy. The Cabinet of Physics of “Liceo Maffei”, founded in 1802, currently consists of about 550 instruments, acquired until the 1960s. Besides the Museum’s staff, the project has involved two physics teachers and a group of students, who participated in different phases of the work on the collection. This article intends to present the collection, the project, and the results achieved so far. We also aim at highlighting the potentialities and possible future developments of the project, a project which can become a model for other schools

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explain how activities focusing on the material culture of science, on science communication and on the contextual approach of scientific topics, created a new tradition for the teaching of experiment in our school and rendered the science laboratory a pole of attraction for students of different interests and inclinations...https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004499676_012

Heinrich Gerber's vision of the tropics, 1850-1860: the scientific and economic thinking of a German polytechnic engineer in the Empire of Brazil

Este artigo analisa o pensamento científico do engenheiro politécnico Heinrich August Anton Gerber, contratado pelo governo da província de Minas Gerais de 1858 a 1867. O artigo explora o significado cultural e intelectual das atividades do engenheiro, especialmente a ideia de criação de empresa privada no setor da infraestrutura viária, bem como a mediação para importação de instrumentos científicos e livros. Os resultados também indicam que Gerber participa do envio de brasileiros para estudar engenharia em Paris. Este texto investiga as trocas culturais entre Brasil e Europa, a aplicação do conhecimento científico e o encontro com problemas práticos de ordem econômica e social pelo engenheiro no interior do Império do Brasil.

https://www.scielo.br/j/hcsm/a/ghHrynS73YbcJbCBnTV3fqF/abstract/?lang=pt

This article analyzes the scientific thinking of the German polytechnic engineer Heinrich August Anton Gerber, who was employed by Minas Gerais province from 1858 to 1867. We explore the cultural and intellectual significance of his activities, particularly the idea of creating a private company within the roadway infrastructure sector and his mediating role in the importation of scientific instruments and books. Gerber also appears to have been part of efforts to send Brazilians to study engineering in Paris. Cultural exchanges between Brazil and Europe are investigated, along with the application of scientific knowledge and his encounters with practical economic and social challenges in the interior of the Empire of Brazil.

The interests of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in natural history and evolution took them to remote parts of the globe on hazardous, multi-sensory journeys that were ultimately about collecting. This paper introduces a methodology for exploring these complex experiences in more detail, informed by historical geography, anthropology, textual analysis and the geo-humanities. It involves looking for evidence of the richly stimulating and often challenging sensory dynamics within which they collected and connected data, observations, images, specimens, memories and ideas. Darwin's exploits in Tierra del Fuego are examined as a case study, with a particular focus on the collection of ‘Fuegian’ body paints in 1833. This type of analysis provides a fresh insight into the multi-sensory entanglement of encounter with people and place involved in the collecting process. It helps us to understand better the experiences that shaped what was collected and brought back to Britain, ...

A fotomicrografia foi uma das primeiras aplicações científicas da fotografia. A fim de entender a sua evolução histórica é primordial o estudo da evolução do microscópio e da sua adaptação à câmara fotográfica. A primeira fotomicrografia (calótipo) foi obtida com um microscópio solar, em 1839, por Fox Talbot (1800-1877). Durante os anos 1839-1840, Alfred Donné (1801-1878) e Léon Foucault (1819-1868) obtiveram daguerréotipos de preparações microscópicas de cristais, glóbulos sanguíneos e outros fluidos humanos, utilizando o microscópio solar, equipado com luz oxídrica, substituindo mais tarde esta luz artificial pelo arco voltaico. Apesar do trabalho pioneiro de Talbot, Donné e outros, houve um progresso lento em fotomicrografia, não só devido à convicção de que o desenho era o meio mais apropriado para a ilustração das preparações microscópicas, como também à dificuldade na reprodução dos daguerreótipos. No entanto, na década seguinte e sobretudo com a utilização da nova técnica fot...

From the time of its discovery, photography participated in the production of evidence in many scientific fields. In the second half of the nineteenth century the quality of the photographic images as well as the discovery of easier and more reliable photographic techniques, transformed photography in a precious tool for scientists; they were now able to register in an indirect way atmospheric and magnetic phenomena. Throughout Europe, Meteorological and Astronomical Observatories had started to be equipped with photographic self-recording instruments in order to be able to register in a continuous way temperature, pressure or atmospheric electricity variations. One of these Institutions was the Kew Observatory, considered one of the best in Europe. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Infante D. Luiz Observatory of Lisbon, the Meteorological and Magnetic Observatory of the University of Coimbra, as well as the Meteorological and Magnetic Station of Oporto, owned photographic s...

Em 1839, no decurso do discurso que apresentou à Academia das Ciências em Paris (Fig. ), François Arago (1786-1853), prestigiado físico francês, considerava, com grande sentido de previsão, o contributo que teriam para as Ciências e as Artes os trabalhos de Louis Daguerre (1787-1851) e Joseph Niépce (1765-1833) relativos à descoberta da Fotografia. Nesse discurso 4 , Arago indicava as perspectivas de utilização da descoberta como um auxiliar indispensável ao cientista nas áreas da Astronomia, Arqueologia e Espectroscopia. Sucessivos progressos técnicos e científicos encorajaram a prática fotográfica em diversas outras ciências. No início, a utilização da fotografia no papel de auxiliar documental da Ciência é entendida, segundo Jules Janssen , eminente astrónomo francês, como a "retina do cientista" 5 . A evolução da técnica fotográfica acabará por ter uma

A fotomicrografia foi uma das primeiras aplicações científicas da fotografia. A fim de entender a sua evolução histórica é primordial o estudo da evolução do microscópio e da sua adaptação à câmara fotográfica. A primeira fotomicrografia (calótipo) foi obtida com um microscópio solar, em 1839, por Fox Talbot (1800-1877). Durante os anos 1839-1840, Alfred Donné (1801-1878) e Léon Foucault (1819-1868) obtiveram daguerréotipos de preparações microscópicas de cristais, glóbulos sanguíneos e outros fluidos humanos, utilizando o microscópio solar, equipado com luz oxídrica, substituindo mais tarde esta luz artificial pelo arco voltaico. Apesar do trabalho pioneiro de Talbot, Donné e outros, houve um progresso lento em fotomicrografia, não só devido à convicção de que o desenho era o meio mais apropriado para a ilustração das preparações microscópicas, como também à dificuldade na reprodução dos daguerreótipos. No entanto, na década seguinte e sobretudo com a utilização da nova técnica fot...

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, new lectures in natural philosophy based on direct and immediate demonstrations began to spread through Europe. Within this context, a chair of experimental philosophy was created at the University of Padua in 1738, and the new professor, Giovanni Poleni, established a Cabinet of Physics, which became very well known in eighteenth-century Europe. In the following two centuries, Poleni’s successors continued to acquire thousands of instruments used for teaching and research, which today are held at the Museum of the History of Physics of the University of Padua. The present paper describes the main peculiarities of the collection, comprising instruments from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. We also discuss the current acquisition policy of the museum, aimed at collecting material evidence of the research and teaching activities in physics that are carried out in Padua today. We will outline both the local peculiarities of the colle...

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, new lectures in natural philosophy based on direct and immediate demonstrations began to spread through Europe. Within this context, a chair of experimental philosophy was created at the University of Padua in 1738, and the new professor, Giovanni Poleni, established a Cabinet of Physics, which became very well known in eighteenth-century Europe. In the following two centuries, Poleni’s successors continued to acquire thousands of instruments used for teaching and research, which today are held at the Museum of the History of Physics of the University of Padua. The present paper describes the main peculiarities of the collection, comprising instruments from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. We also discuss the current acquisition policy of the museum, aimed at collecting material evidence of the research and teaching activities in physics that are carried out in Padua today. We will outline both the local peculiarities of the colle...

A fotomicrografia foi uma das primeiras aplicações científicas da fotografia. A fim de entender a sua evolução histórica é primordial o estudo da evolução do microscópio e da sua adaptação à câmara fotográfica. A primeira fotomicrografia (calótipo) foi obtida com um microscópio solar, em 1839, por Fox Talbot (1800-1877). Durante os anos 1839-1840, Alfred Donné (1801-1878) e Léon Foucault (1819-1868) obtiveram daguerréotipos de preparações microscópicas de cristais, glóbulos sanguíneos e outros fluidos humanos, utilizando o microscópio solar, equipado com luz oxídrica, substituindo mais tarde esta luz artificial pelo arco voltaico. Apesar do trabalho pioneiro de Talbot, Donné e outros, houve um progresso lento em fotomicrografia, não só devido à convicção de que o desenho era o meio mais apropriado para a ilustração das preparações microscópicas, como também à dificuldade na reprodução dos daguerreótipos. No entanto, na década seguinte e sobretudo com a utilização da nova técnica fot...

There is, in Greece, an ongoing attempt to breach the boundaries established between the different teaching-learning subjects of compulsory education. In this context, we are interested in exploring to what degree the teaching and learning of ideas from the sciences' ''internal life'' (Hacking, in: Pickering (ed) Science as practice and culture, 1992) benefits from creatively coming into contact with theatrical education as part of the corresponding curriculum subject. To this end, 57 students of the Early Childhood Education Department of the University of Athens were called to study extracts from Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican, to focus on a subject that the Dialogue's ''interlocutors'' forcefully disagree about and to theatrically represent (using shadow theatre techniques) what they considered as being the central idea of this clash of opinions. The results indicate that this attempt leads to a satisfactory understanding of ideas relating to the content and methodology of the natural sciences. At the same time, theatrical education avails itself of the representation of scientific ideas and avoids the clichés and hackneyed techniques that the (often) simplistic choices available in the educational context of early childhood education tend towards. The basic reasons for both facets of this success are: (a) Genuine scientific texts force the students to approach them with seriousness, and all the more so if these recount the manner in which scientific ideas are produced and are embedded in the historical and social context of the age that created them; (b) The theatrical framework, which essentially guides the students' activities, allows (if not obliges) them to approach scientific issues creatively; in other words, it allows them to create something related to science and recognize it as theirs; and, (c) Both the narrative texts describing processes of ''science making'' (Bruner, J Sci Educ Technol 1:5-12, 1992) and theatrical expression constitute fields that are characterized by what, for the students, is a common and understandable manner of expression: the narrative.

A fotomicrografia foi uma das primeiras aplicações científicas da fotografia. A fim de entender a sua evolução histórica é primordial o estudo da evolução do microscópio e da sua adaptação à câmara fotográfica. A primeira fotomicrografia (calótipo) foi obtida com um microscópio solar, em 1839, por Fox Talbot (1800-1877). Durante os anos 1839-1840, Alfred Donné (1801-1878) e Léon Foucault (1819-1868) obtiveram daguerréotipos de preparações microscópicas de cristais, glóbulos sanguíneos e outros fluidos humanos, utilizando o microscópio solar, equipado com luz oxídrica, substituindo mais tarde esta luz artificial pelo arco voltaico. Apesar do trabalho pioneiro de Talbot, Donné e outros, houve um progresso lento em fotomicrografia, não só devido à convicção de que o desenho era o meio mais apropriado para a ilustração das preparações microscópicas, como também à dificuldade na reprodução dos daguerreótipos. No entanto, na década seguinte e sobretudo com a utilização da nova técnica fot...

The Greenough stereomicroscope, or “Stemi” as it is colloquially known among microscopists, is a stereoscopic binocular instrument yielding three-dimensional depth perception when working with larger microscopic spec- imens. It has become ubiquitous in laboratory practice since its introduction by the unknown scientist Hora- tio Saltonstall Greenough in 1892. However, because it enabled new experimental practices rather than new knowledge, it has largely eluded historical and epistemological investigation, even though its design, produc- tion, and reception in the scientific community was inextricably connected to the new epistemological ideals of the life sciences caught between natural history and modern science. The development of the microscope will be contextualized within the scientific and technological landscape, showing how Greenough navigated his way through this terrain, and what led him to sow the seeds for the stereoscopic microscope. The historical controversy over the optical mechanism, through which the instrument would generate the desired depth per- ception, and how this quality was embedded into laboratory practice, will be examined. Subsequently, it will become evident that the specific image of nature produced by the stereoscopic microscope corresponded to the new ideals of the life sciences and their representation.
Keywords: Microscopy, Zeiss, Experimental systems, Experimental embryology, Depth perception

Transcripción y explicación de los procedimientos geométricos para construir un Astrolabio Planisférico o de Tolomeo, como se describen en el  manuscrito MS 484 de la Biblioteca Balear titulado:  "Fracmentos Mathematicos" que escribio Fr. Joseph Maria de Mallorca, de apellido Comellas,. Este manuscrito contiene unas paginas relativas al trazado de un  "Astrolabio de Tolomeo", o "Equatorial", como lo llama el autor.
El método de trazado expuesto por Fr. Joseph tiene muchas similitudes con el método descrito en el libro "L'Usage des Astrolabes" de Nicolas Bion, editado en Paris en el año 1702. Incluso el dibujo de la "Araña" del Astrolabio de Comellas es idéntico al que aparece  en el libro de Bion.
Sin embargo, el método descrito por Comellas complementa en cierto modo el descrito por Bion, sobre todo en el modo de trazar los Almicantarats del "Tímpano" y  contiene ciertas singularidades que no se encuentran descritas en otros autores como Stöffler o Martinez Población, por lo que posiblemente .son procedimientos propios de Comellas.
En este trabajo, hacemos una transcripción del texto del manuscrito relativas al Astrolabio, y explicamos en lenguaje moderno sus métodos de trazado geométrico.

RIASSUNTO La collezione di strumenti scientifici del Gabinetto di Fisica dell'ottocentesco Istituto Tecnico Toscano si trova ancora oggi nei locali storici ed è composta da apparecchi ben conservati e in buona parte funzionanti. La Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica produce una serie di video che li mostrano in funzione e ne spiegano l'uso. Tali video vengono diffusi attraverso i "social media" e inseriti come risorsa consultabile all'interno del percorso museale con QR code, in modo da rispettare il carattere storico dell'allestimento.
Parole chiave: strumenti scientifici, esperimenti di fisica, storia della fisica, video, canale YouTube, QR code.
ABSTRACT How does it work? The collection of scientific instruments of the Physics Cabinet of the Istituto Tecnico Toscano is still preserved today in the historic rooms and is composed of well-preserved and still-working equipment. The Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica produced a series of videos that show them up and explain their use. These videos are distributed through "social media" and incorporated as a resource available within the museum with a QR code, so as to respect the historic character of the exhibition.

RIASSUNTO Negli anni '70 dello scorso secolo il Museo di Scienze Naturali Enrico Caffi di Bergamo ha acquisito una serie di strumenti didattici databili fra la fine del Settecento e la metà dell'Ottocento, provenienti dal Gabinetto di Fisica del Liceo Classico Paolo Sarpi. L'attivarsi di rapporti di collaborazione, prima con l' Ateneo di Scienze Lettere ed Arti e poi con la Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica, ha consentito il recupero della raccolta grazie allo studio degli strumenti e all'avvio degli interventi di restauro. Parole chiave: collaborazione fra istituzioni, strumenti scientifici, restauro.
ABSTRACT Enhancement of a scientific collection: museum and institutions collaborate Il Museo di Scienze Naturali Enrico Caffi di Bergamo L'esigenza di arricchire la città di un Museo di Scien-ze Naturali nacque nel 1871 quando il Consiglio del Regio Istituto Tecnico diede l'incarico al prof. Polli di riordinare le collezioni naturalistiche al fine di aprirle alla pubblica visione nelle giornate festive. Nel 1917 la Giunta comunale accolse l'idea che il Mu-seo diventasse definitivamente Civico e il 14 luglio 1918 venne ufficialmente inaugurato il Museo Civico di Storia Naturale. Il sacerdote prof. Enrico Caffi fu nominato primo di-rettore dell'istituto e con la sua paziente opera riordinò le collezioni civiche favorendo l'incremento delle rac-colte fino al 1947. Il suo trentennale lavoro fu molto intenso tanto che gli spazi a disposizione costituirono nuovamente un elemento di freno allo sviluppo dell'at-tività. Venne individuata in Piazza Cittadella la nuova sede da destinare al Museo di Scienze Naturali nel prestigioso edificio visconteo che doveva prevedere, oltre a un ampio settore espositivo, adeguati labora-tori e depositi. Nel 1960 il Museo venne trasferito da Piazza Vecchia alla sede attuale e dedicato al suo primo direttore, Enrico Caffi. Dagli anni '80 il Museo è stato oggetto di ulteriori interventi di ampliamento che hanno reso disponibili nuovi locali destinati a una nuova e funzionale biblio-teca, a una sezione didattica, ai laboratori, ai depositi delle collezioni e al settore espositivo (v. sito web 1). L'Ateneo di Scienze Lettere e Arti di Bergamo L' Ateneo di Bergamo prende la sua intitolazione dal decreto napoleonico del 25 dicembre 1810 che riunì l'antica Accademia degli Eccitati, nata nel 1642 con in-tenti umanistici e letterari, con l' Accademia Economi-co Arvale, creata dietro impulso della Serenissima nel

In antiquity, precession was a very novel feature. It is for this reason that the Alexandrine astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus (second century AD) presented a description of a relevant demonstration model, the so-called precession globe, in his Almagest. Before 1500 only one precession globe is extant. However, the interest in precession globes increased in modern times. This paper examines a number of designs in globe making which take precession into account.

Since 2014 the Museum of the History of Physics of the University of Padua has been working on the study and valorisation of the collection of historical scientific instruments kept at the high school “Scipione Maffei” in Verona, one of the oldest high schools in Italy. The Cabinet of Physics of “Liceo Maffei”, founded in 1802, currently consists of about 550 instruments, acquired until the 1960s. Besides the Museum’s staff, the project has involved two physics teachers and a group of students, who participated in different phases of the work on the collection. This article intends to present the collection, the project, and the results achieved so far. We also aim at highlighting the potentialities and possible future developments of the project, a project which can become a model for other schools.

The objects of science education are transformed, degraded and disappeared for many reasons, and sometimes take other things with them when they go. This close reading of an undergraduate physiology laboratory report demonstrates how the kymograph was never a stand-alone instrument, but intertwined with conceptual frameworks and technical skills, laboratory amenities, materials, animal supply, technicians. Replacing the obsolete kymograph entails changing all of that. Histories usually focus on progress associated with better measurements and fewer complications; instead, I focus on the complications themselves: what did students learn from them? What laboratory culture disappeared along with them? How have curriculum and pedagogy been transformed by their removal? The connection between progress and demise raises uncomfortable challenges for laboratory pedagogy, and for museum practice: what is laboratory education really about, and what kinds of heritage should museums, libraries and archives preserve to document it?

Diese detaillierte Untersuchung der astronomischen Instrumente von Johannes Hevelius (1611–1687), die hier von Irena Kampa präsentiert wird, ist ein umfassendes Werk, das seine Instrumente genau beschreibt und analysiert – ergänzt durch exzellent bearbeitete Abbildungen. Den Anfang bildet eine Biographie von Johannes Hevelius im Kontext der Hansestadt Danzig im 17. Jahrhundert. Bemerkenswert ist die  Diskussion der Rolle der Assistenten und Helfer, „invisible hands“ (Hentschel 2008), aber auch die Thematisierung der Rolle der Ehefrauen als Assistentinnen, Elisabeth und auch Katharina. In den reich illustrierten Publikationen, Cometographia (1668) und Selenographia (1647), stellt Hevelius die ersten Errungenschaften seiner Beobachtungen mit den Winkelmeßinstrumenten und mit den Fernrohren dar.
Im Zentrum der Arbeit von Irena Kampa steht die Machina coelestis pars prior (1673), die eine detaillierte Beschreibung seiner drei Sternwarten (1641, Stellaeburgum 1650–1679, 1681) und besonders seiner Winkelmeßinstrumente und Fernrohre (bis zum Prestigeobjekt seines 140 Fuß Luftfernrohrs) enthält, aber auch die drei arbeitsaufwendigen Methoden, um die Koordinaten von Sternen zu ermitteln. Eindrucksvoll werden auch die Reaktionen der Zeitgenossen wie Hooke, Halley und Flamsteed und ihre Dispute um die optischen bzw. teleskopischen Visiere – und damit um die Genauigkeit der Messungen – diskutiert. Im Prodromus Astronomiae (1690) werden die Vorarbeiten, die Methoden zur Ermittlung der Sternkoordinaten und die Auswertung, genau beschrieben. Das Werk Firmamentum Sobiescianum (1690), von Elisabeth druckfertig gemacht, enthält die Sternkataloge, die letzten ohne teleskopische Visiere, aber den ersten, der neben den ekliptikalen auch äquatoriale Koordinaten enthält, sorgfältig analysiert von Frau Kampa. Es ist der beste Sternkatalog eine Generation lang, bis John Flamsteed seine Historia coelestis Britannica (1725) veröffentlicht. Trotzdem geben Himmelsgloben aus der ersten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts (Falk, Doppelmayr – wie von Frau Kampa gefunden) Hevelius als Referenz an. Bemerkenswert ist seine Einführung neuer Sternbilder, welche seine Nachfolger weitgehend übernahmen (sieben übernahm die IAU, 1922).
Schließlich werden die Sternwarten von Hevelius mit anderen europäischen Sternwarten (Kassel 1560, Hven 1576, Runder Turm Kopenhagen 1642, Paris 1667, Greenwich 1675, Peking 1673, Nürnberg 1678 und 1692) und deren instrumenteller Ausstattung (besonders Quadranten in Kassel, Nürnberg, Florenz, Peking, sowie Sextanten in Prag, Kremsmünster) verglichen. Hevelius’ Winkelmeßinstrumente stellen den Höhepunkt für Positionsmessungen ohne Teleskop dar und gleichzeitig das Ende. Doch bleibend sind die prachtvoll mit Kupferstichen illustrierten Werke, Himmelsgloben und einige Namen für Mondformationen und neue Sternbilder. Wissenschaftshistorisch bedeutend ist sicher der Beginn der Untersuchung Veränderlicher Sterne und das Datenmaterial an Kometen und Sonnenfleckenbeobachtungen. So ist Irena Kampa mit dieser ausgezeichneten Arbeit eindrucksvoll in interdisziplinärer Herangehensweise die Synthese aus  Astronomiegeschichte und Instrumententechnik gelungen – und auch die Einordnung der Sternwarte des Hevelius in den Kontext der zeitgenössischen barocken Sternwarten.

The astronomical instruments of Johannes Hevelius: This doctoral thesis deals with the astronomical instruments of the astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687), who owned an observatory in the 17th century that was erected on the roofs of his houses in Gdansk and who gained international fame for his works on the topography of the moon surface. This dissertation starts with an extensive overview of the life and work of Hevelius and shows his achievements for astronomy. His astronomical instruments are described in great detail and compared to the ones of other contemporary astronomers. His correspondence with European scientists serves as the main source to find the manufacturers of his devices. An examination of 22.000 single observational data provides new information about the usage of his instruments. Some were used on a daily basis while others, although thoroughly described by Hevelius, were barely directed at the stars at all. Furthermore the analysis of the manuscript of his star catalogue compared to the printed work gives additional insight into his way of working and shows possible sources of error while computing the coordinates of the stars.  --

Der Danziger Astronom (und erfolgreiche Bierbrauer) Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687) ist vor allem durch seine detailreichen Mondkarten und seinen Sternenkatalog berühmt geworden. Seine umfangreich ausgestattete Sternwarte war in Europa viele Jahre lang unübertroffen. Dieses Buch widmet sich nicht nur den astronomischen Instrumenten des Danzigers, sondern es beschreibt auch ausführlich sein Leben, seine Werke und seine Errungenschaften – aber auch die erbitterten Kontroversen, die er mit anderen Wissenschaftlern geführt hat. Es wirft ein Licht auf die Arbeitsweise der Astronomen im 17. Jahrhundert – einer Zeit, in der sich die gesamte Wissenschaft im Aufbruch befand. Sowohl der astronomische als auch der wissenschaftshistorische Kontext werden dabei leicht verständlich erklärt. In diesem Buch befinden sich über 150 Abbildungen und Grafiken: von Quadranten und Fernrohren, von Sternwarten und Stadtansichten, von Kometen und vielem mehr. Besonders die wunderschönen (und zum großen Teil bisher unveröffentlichten) kolorierten Kupferstiche aus der Sammlung der Bibliothek der Staatlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Danzig offenbaren dem Leser eindrucksvoll das Leben und Arbeiten auf der Danziger Sternwarte.
ISBN: 978-3-7469-2787-9 (Hardcover), ISBN 978-3-7469-2786-2 (Paperback)

Der Danziger Astronom (und erfolgreiche Bierbrauer) Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687) ist vor allem durch seine detailreichen Mondkarten und seinen Sternenkatalog berühmt geworden. Seine umfangreich ausgestattete Sternwarte war in Europa viele Jahre lang unübertroffen. Dieses Buch widmet sich nicht nur den astronomischen Instrumenten des Danzigers, sondern es beschreibt auch ausführlich sein Leben, seine Werke und seine Errungenschaften – aber auch die erbitterten Kontroversen, die er mit anderen Wissenschaftlern geführt hat. Es wirft ein Licht auf die Arbeitsweise der Astronomen im 17. Jahrhundert – einer Zeit, in der sich die gesamte Wissenschaft im Aufbruch befand. Sowohl der astronomische als auch der wissenschaftshistorische Kontext werden dabei leicht verständlich erklärt. In diesem Buch befinden sich über 150 Abbildungen und Grafiken: von Quadranten und Fernrohren, von Sternwarten und Stadtansichten, von Kometen und vielem mehr. Besonders die wunderschönen (und zum großen Teil bisher unveröffentlichten) kolorierten Kupferstiche aus der Sammlung der Bibliothek der Staatlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Danzig offenbaren dem Leser eindrucksvoll das Leben und Arbeiten auf der Danziger Sternwarte.

Τα ιστορικά πειράματα ως εργαλεία ανάδειξης διαφορετικών όψεων του πειράματος και μετασχηματισμού του εργαστηρίου φυσικών επιστημών σε «επιστημονικό μουσείο» Περίληψη Αντικείμενο της παρούσας εργασίας είναι να δειχθεί πώς η ιστορική προσέγγιση της διδασκαλίας των φυσικών επιστημών μπορεί να μετασχηματίσει την ζωή του σχολικού εργαστηρίου, προσδίδοντας στην πειραματική διδασκαλία πλούσιο διαθεματικό προσανατολισμό. Σύγχρονοι προβληματισμοί πάνω στα είδη και τη φύση των επιστημονικών οργάνων, τη σχέση τους με την εγκαθίδρυση της πειραματικής επιστήμης, μελέτες πάνω στη φύση και τα είδη των πειραματικών διαδικασιών, θέματα επιστήμης και κοινωνίας μπορούν να αποτελέσουν άξονες για τον ανασχεδιασμό της πειραματικής διδασκαλίας. Ένα τέτοιο εγχείρημα μπορεί να καταστήσει το σχολικό εργαστήριο πόλο έλξης για διαφορετικούς τύπους μαθητών.

Παναγιώτης Λάζος Δύο προτάσεις για τον υπολογισμό του «ρελαντί» κινητήρα εσωτερικής καύσης με λογισμικό επεξεργασίας ήχου Περίληψη Η παρούσα εργασία προτείνει δύο μεθόδους για τη μέτρηση του αριθμού περιστροφών ανά λεπτό του στροφαλοφόρου άξονα ενός κινητήρα εσωτερικής καύσης όταν αυτός λειτουργεί στο ρελαντί. Αμφότερες βασίζονται σε λογισμικό επεξεργασίας ήχου. Η πρώτη μέθοδος εκμεταλλεύεται την περιοδικότητα του ήχου που παράγει ο κινητήρας. Η δεύτερη μέθοδος στηρίζεται σε φαινόμενα μαγνητικής επαγωγής.

The 2012 June 5 Transit of Venus (ToV) provided a unique opportunity for scientific teams to conduct observational programs probing features of this rare Solar System event. A RASC team stationed in Regina set out to determine the minimum aperture necessary to unequivocally visually detect the aureole effect. The experiment and its results are described below. In the context of contested historical detections of the Cytherean atmosphere, this investigation used modern analogues of 18th-century equipment to aid in characterizing the potential of enlightenment optics for detecting the aureole effect. It was conducted under the auspices of the Transit of Venus Project (TVP)-Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) Experimental Archaeology program (ExARx).

Η εισαγωγή της διδασκαλίας στοιχείων ρευστομηχανικής στη Φυσική κατεύθυνσης της Γ' τάξης του Λυκείου αποτελεί την πρώτη εκτεταμένη αλλαγή στη διδακτέα ύλης του μαθήματος για πάνω από 15 χρόνια. Χωρίς να παραβλέπουμε τα γνωστά σε όλους προβλήματα που παρουσιάζει η Γ' τάξη, θεωρούμε πως η πραγματοποίηση σχετικών πειραμάτων προκαλεί το ενδιαφέρον των μαθητών και οδηγεί στην καλύτερη κατανόηση των εννοιών και των φαινομένων. Το ερώτημα το οποίο αποτελεί την αφετηρία για το προτεινόμενο πείραμα έχει να κάνει με το σχήμα που έχει μία φλέβα νερού που τρέχει από μία βρύση, πριν αρχίσουν να δημιουργούνται σταγόνες και να καταστρέφεται η συνέχειά της. Είναι, μάλλον, κοινή παρατήρηση πως η φλέβα λεπταίνει (μείωση της διαμέτρου με αύξηση της απόστασης από τη βρύση). Το σχήμα αυτό ακολουθεί, άραγε, κάποια κανονικότητα; Υπάρχει, δηλαδή, κάποια θεωρητική σχέση ανάμεσα στα μεγέθη διάμετρος φλέβας και απόσταση από το άκρο της βρύσης και αν ναι μπορεί να ελεγχθεί πειραματικά;

The rising interest during recent decades in contextual science teaching contributed to the development of an interdisciplinary field interweaving issues of science, history and philosophy of science, history of education, and history of scientific instruments. Within this framework we will describe a science teaching proposal titled " How Would the Earth Be without Air? " aiming at mobilizing a 19 th and early 20 th century scientific instrument collection for educational use. Giving it a form of a lecture-demonstration comprising narration, audiovisual presentation, performance of experiments and discussion games, we lead the participants to realize that different phenomena, such as falling objects, sound, flame, the temperature of boiling water, the shape and colour of the lightning, the colour of the sky, the limitations of water pumps and the takeoff of airplanes are linked with the presence of air and atmospheric pressure. Inspired by the discovery method and the constructivist teaching approach, we develop a continuous transfer back and forth from the museum laboratory to the history of science scene, using as links the experimental observations or the scientific ideas of the participants. Through the proposal content and activities, we reveal aspects of the nature of science, referring to the methodology, the historical development and the dissemination of science. Presented to more than 1300 students and teachers ‒ visitors to the Science Museum of Chios during the period 2004-2008 ‒ the lecture-demonstration proved interesting and was easily followed by participants of different science literacy levels, while it was characterized as enhancing scientific curiosity, imagination and thinking. The software prepared for its presentation permits its use as a distance-learning tool as well.

Under the new light shed on the historical scientific instruments by the recent science education and history of science research, thousands of historical instruments are regarded as centers of new learning processes. Within this framework, we will analyze our five-year experience on the designing and realization of a science education programme at the historic 'School of Chios', which, established within the intellectual movement of the pre-Revolutionary period, hosts today a valuable 19 th and early 20 th century scientific instrument collection for educational use. Having as initial points the reasonable visitors' questions " What do these instruments do? " and " How important are they for the history of scientific culture? " we weaved, based on historical scientific documents, a web of stories and experiments around the exhibits and created series of educational scenarios. The air pump, electrostatic generators, vacuum tubes, magnetic compasses, the spectroscope and telescope, became centres of specifically prepared lecture-demonstrations, which, combining narration, audiovisual presentation and performance of experiments, proved able to captivate the interest of more than 4000 visitors – students, teachers and general public – during the period 2003-8. During 2007-8, in situ learning activities and learner-centered projects added an active learning perspective to the museum programme, when school students aged 12-14 and Second Chance School adult learners were invited to identify the instruments, conduct experiments and reconstruct simple equipment, within the framework of two European projects. In parallel, both the lecture-demonstrations and many of the in situ learner-centered projects were supported by the creation of educational material that permitted their use as distance-learning tools.

During the last decades there has been a rising interest in the preservation of historical scientific instrument collections and the development of research activities related to them. The role of universities in this enterprise is prominent and sheds fresh light on the weaving of an interdisciplinary field including science, history of science, and science communication issues. The restoration of eighteenth century physics cabinets and nineteenth century historical laboratories, the reconstruction of historical scientific equipment and experiments, the organization of exhibitions and science communication events, the reconstruction of historical lecture demonstrations, the creation of films and theatrical plays, and the one-line display of scientific instrument collections are only few examples of this multifaceted activity of European universities.
This new importance given to the study of the material culture of science is strongly related to the recent historiographical turn, according to which history of science is not only the history of ideas but also the history of institutions, instruments, experimental processes, and teaching cultures. Giving specific examples from our latest research activity, we will argue for the fact that the scientific instrument heritage of Greek universities bears information of the highest importance for historians of science and science educators.