Museum, Theatre and Printing House. Image courtesy of the Museum of the History of Science

The Museum of the History of Science, located in Broad Street, Oxford, is home to a collection of historic scientific instruments and is the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum building. Jump to: navigation, search Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ... A museum is typically a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education enjoyment, the tangible and intangible evidence of people and their environment. ...

The current collection contains around 15,000 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, 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. Classical antiquity is a broad and perhaps misleading term for a long period of European, Middle East and North African history, that begins roughly with the earliest recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... In the West, from antiquity up to the time of the Scientific Revolution, inquiry into the workings of the universe was known as natural philosophy, and those engaged in it were known as natural philosophers. ... A sextant is a measuring instrument used to measure the angle of elevation of a celestial object above the horizon. ... For the ship of Dumont dUrville, see Astrolabe A 16th century astrolabe. ... Jump to: navigation, search Wall sundial Wall sundial in Warsaws Old Town A sundial measures time by the position of the sun. ... Astrometry: the study of the position of objects in the sky and their changes of position. ... Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is a position fixing technique that was the first system devised to help sailors locate themselves on a featureless ocean. ... Surveyor at work Surveying is the art and science of accurately determining the position of points and the distances between them. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1852 microscope Compound microscope made by John Cuff in 1750 A microscope (Greek: micron = small and scopos = aim) is an instrument for viewing objects that are too small to be seen by the naked or unaided eye. ... Jump to: navigation, search 50 cm refracting telescope at Nice Observatory. ... A camera is a device used to take pictures (usually photographs), either singly or in sequence, with or without sound, such as with video cameras. ... Jump to: navigation, search Modern-style library In its traditional sense, a library is a collection of books and periodicals. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... A page from a rare Blackletter Bible (1497) printed in Strasbourg by J.R. Grueninger. ... Ephemera are documents published with a short intended lifetime. ... Jump to: navigation, search Lens and mounting of a large format camera Photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of light. ...

Built in 1683 to house Elias Ashmole's collection, the museum building became known as the Old Ashmolean Building (to distinguish it from the Ashmolean Museum) and was the world's first museum to 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 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 and in 1924 the gift of Lewis Evans's collection allowed the museum further improvement, becoming the Museum of the History of Science and appointing Robert Gunther as its first curator. Events June 6 - The Ashmolean Museum opens as the worlds first university museum. ... Elias Ashmole by an unknown hand (detail), after a portrait by John Riley, c. ... The Ashmolean Museum (in full the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology) in Oxford, England is the worlds first university museum. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Jump to: navigation, search Philosophy is a discipline or field of study involving the investigation, analysis, and development of ideas at a general, abstract, or fundamental level. ... Biochemistry laboratory at the University of Cologne. ...

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 a blackboard that Albert Einstein used on 16 May 1931 during his lectures while visiting Oxford, rescued by E. J. Bowen at the end of the lecture. Jump to: navigation, search Albert Einstein, by Yousuf Karsh Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955) was a German-born Jewish theoretical physicist of profound genius, who is widely regarded as the greatest scientist of the 20th century. ... May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Jump to: navigation, search The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Edmund John Bowen FRS. British Chemist (1898 - 1981). ...

Admission is free and is open to the general public from 12 noon until 4 pm, Tuesday to Saturday, and from 2pm until 5pm on Sundays. (The museum closes for the Christmas and New Year period.) Jump to: navigation, search Christmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a holiday in the Christian calendar, usually observed on December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus. ... This page deals with the annual event. ...

See also

• Jim Bennett, the museum's Keeper
• Whipple Museum of the History of Science, University of Cambridge

Dr Jim Bennett is a museum curator and historian of science. ... The Whipple Museum of the History of Science, founded in 1944, is the science museum of the University of Cambridge. ... The University of Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world, with one of the most selective sets of entry requirements in the United Kingdom. ...

External Links

• Official museum website