Back from the Dead

4 November 2016 — 21 May 2017

Opened 19 January 2016

Celebrating recent acquisitions to the Museum, this exhibition showcases a number of our latest and most engaging arrivals. From a medieval astrolabe to the 17th-century English mathematical aide-memoire, we demonstrate the continued vitality of collecting in the modern museum, and the donations, grants and benefactors that make it possible.

Dr Liz Bruton, Byrne-Bussey Marconi Fellow at the Bodleian Library, was recently filmed at the Museum, discussing the changing role of science in the First World War, its growing relationship with industry and the military, and the issues that scientists have been facing. We’re pleased that the University has made available this informative film.

Based in part on work from the “Innovating in Combat” project at the University of Leeds and Museum of the History of Science. The filming was undertaken by the University of Oxford for Oxford Today.

11 May to 9 September 2012

An exhibition by the Royal Astronomical Society and the Museum of the History of Science to mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of Gerard Mercator.

» View location, and directions

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In our latest podcast, Michael Wright presents Ellen Willmott and her turning equipment, the last lecture relating to the Eccentricity series.

Top Gallery 1 October – 6 November
To mark the 400th anniversary of the birth of the famous astronomer of Gdańsk. Exhibitions details.

Mathematical models by Verne Peterson

Plinth Dates: 7 – 9 October 2011

Multiplication of Signed Numbers as Volume, by Verne Peterson, Chicago, 2011

‘There is something especially gratifying in a geometric representation or proof of an abstract concept. If that concept can be recreated and shown to be consistent in our familiar physical environment, a more profound understanding may be reached. I find that many people, myself included, are left unsatisfied by algebraic explanations of why the product of two negative numbers is a positive number. If only it could be demonstrated with something tangible like blocks?’

Verne Peterson

Plinth Dates: 4 – 6 October 2011

AIR implant (Augmenting Implant Radio) by Marek Kultys

Scenario #3—No one expected that implanting wireless receivers into the human cochlear nerve would prove so easy. Today, many can enjoy listening to the ether with this artificial sixth sense. While adults face difficulties learning to interpret the stimuli, research indicates that full comprehension of radio signals can be developed through pre-birth implantation. Not so long ago many would call it unethical.

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AIR implant is a miniature radio receiver tuned to 912.5 kHz (AM BBC Radio 5) placed in a transparent gelatine capsule. Ten of those are embedded in one AIR implant blister.

AIR implant is part of a critical design project titled ‘The End of Hearing’. It aims at communicating science to the public and democratising the discourse around possible futures, to which current scientific developments—such as implant technologies—can lead.

Marek Kultys (www.the-end-of-hearing.org)