Press Releases
Compass and Rule
Added June 2009
A major new exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science will bring together some of the finest architectural and scientific material from the early modern period including Sir Christopher Wren’s drawings of St Paul’s Cathedral, architectural drawings by King George III and an astrolabe made for Queen Elizabeth I.
Compass and Rule focuses on design and drawing, exploring the role of geometry in the dramatic transformation of English architecture between the 16th and 18th centuries. During this time new concepts of design based on geometry changed how architects worked and what they built, as well as the intellectual status and social standing of their discipline. Identified as a branch of practical mathematics, architecture became the most artistic of the sciences and the most scientific of the arts.
Extraordinary drawings, unique instruments and rare books provide a new perspective on the emerging role of the architect – from Henry VIII’s military engineers to Christopher Wren as astronomer and architect, from Elizabethan mathematical practitioners to the architectural apprenticeship of George III.
The exhibition has been co-curated by Dr Anthony Gerbino and Dr Stephen Johnston, who bring together two academic disciplines, the histories of architecture and of science.
Compass and Rule: Architecture as Mathematical Practice in England, 1500 – 1750 runs between 16th June and 6th September 2009 in Oxford before travelling to the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven.
The English Telescope from Newton to Herschel
Added October 2008
Gregorian Reflector telescope
A new exhibition celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Telescope has opened at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford. The English Telescope from Newton to Herschel tells the story of the important developments to the telescope made in England during the 18th-century.
The exhibition concentrates on the most prolific period of English endeavour in the development of the telescope, which is neatly book-ended by two major figures in the history of astronomy; Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) and William Herschel (1738 – 1822). Before this work, it was difficult to get a sharp image from the refracting telescopes like those used by Galileo, and the only way of combating this was for the telescope tube to be very long. One of the biggest developments in the 18th-century was the invention and improvement of the reflecting telescope and the acromatic lens, which enabled telescopes to be made much shorter.
As telescopes became more manageable in size, astronomy became a fashionable pastime for 18th-century ladies and gentlemen. Instrument makers encouraged this by publishing textbooks and promoting subscription lecture series with entertaining demonstrations. The telescope became part of eighteenth-century life, and its development is entwined with engaging human stories that reflect aspects of life and society at the time.
The exhibition tells many of these stories, from the professors who worked at grinding mirrors and instrument makers who wrote textbooks to a silk weaver who challenged the authority of Newton and a musician who used home-made telescopes to change the nature of astronomy.
“This exhibition is a rare chance to show off our outstanding collection of telescopes from the eighteenth-century.” said Jim Bennett, Director of the Museum of the History of Science, “It’s the time when the English did most to improve the telescope, and probably when they had most enjoyment and profit from doing so, since the study of the heavens was going public and becoming popular.”
The English Telescope from Newton to Herschel runs until 22 March 2009. A full programme of events and lectures accompany the exhibition.
Notes to Editors:
The English Telescope from Newton to Herschel: 15 October 2008 – 22 March 2009
Admission free
Tours of the exhibition will begin at 2pm on 13 December, 10 January and 21 March.
Museum of the History of Science
Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3AZ
Map and directions available from Google Maps.
Museum opening times:
Tuesday to Friday 12.00 – 17.00
Saturday 10.00 – 17.00
Sunday 14.00 – 17.00
moonscope – a special exhibition
Added May 2007
On 24 May 2007, the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford opens moonscope: a special exhibition of lunar images by two artists from the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries with a passion for representing the moon. The images by famous artist and Royal Academician John Russell (1745 – 1806) come from the museum’s unrivalled collection of lunar artworks by the renowned royal portraitist.
Russell’s enthusiasm as an astronomer led him to develop a huge portfolio of lunar artworks in an attempt to make an accurate record of the moon’s surface. These meticulous astronomic records will hang alongside spectacular watercolour images of the moon by Oxfordshire painter Rebecca Hind(Artist in residence – Sacred Land Project, author of 1000 Faces of God – Carlton Press).
Showing Russell’s spectacular lunar depictions alongside Hind’s will change the viewer’s perception of his works. These scientific records, such as the Selenographia (or moon globe) and the detailed five-foot lunar pastel, are fascinating in the context of the history of astronomy, but they are also works of art, and the moonscope exhibition will highlight this element of Russell’s lunar works.
The Museum of the History of Science has a full programme of special events, talks and activities for people of all ages to accompany the moonscope exhibition. Moon -related events include after-hours access to the University Parks for telescopic observation and advice on lunar drawing (28 May 2007, 7 – 11pm), Paper Moon, a day of talks, activities, storytelling and more to celebrate the moonscope exhibition (26 May 2007, 10am – 5pm), along with John Russell, Artist and Astronomer, a public lecture given by art historian Hilary Underwood (11 July 2007, 7pm).
See the Moonscope Presspack for further details.
