Events Archive

Discover the revolution of Copernicus and make a colourful paper planetarium to take home. Suitable for ages 7-13. No need to book, just drop in!

Discover the secrets of Galileo's invention and make your own working telescope. Suitable for ages 9+, suggested materials donation £5. Booking is required for this workshop - email museum@mhs.ox.ac.uk or call 01865 277280 to book a space.

Discover the story of time in a day of activities, talks, trails and entertainment all about time! Activities to include stop-frame animation film-making, model-making, a time trail, fun demonstrations, object handling, tours of the special exhibition Time Machines, and much more... View the a programme of activities here.

Suitable for all the family.

Our apologies, this event has been cancelled.
Discover ingenious pocket sundials and make beautiful replicas based on instruments from the Museum's special collection. Suitable for ages 7-13, suggested materials contribution £5.

What did the Victorians know about movies? Find out in this Family Friendly drop-in, and make your own magical movie toy. Suitable for ages 7+.

• steampunk jewellery workshops with Amy Surman (booking required: museum@mhs.ox.ac.uk/01865 277280; fee for attendance and all materials £10) FULLY BOOKED


• Meccano demonstrations, displays and hands-on activities with the Henley Society of Meccano engineers


• stalls for buying makers' requisites


• an exhibition 'for sale' - one of MHS's signature events

Download a full programme of activities here

By Anna Maerker. Free - no need to book.

Gallery Tour by Pedro Raposo
Free - no need to book

The architectonic sector revealed.
Stephen Johnston
Free - no need to book

Discover the secrets of Galileo’s invention and make your own working telescope. Involves some theory of optics.
Suitable for ages 9-13.
Voluntary materials donation £5.
Held in the Basement Gallery
Booking is required - call 01865 277280.

Gallery Tour by Thad Parsons
Free - no need to book

Curator-led tour explores the themes of the exhibition among the buildings of Oxford, from the Museum to Merton College via the Sheldonian, Bodleian and Queen’s College. A fresh view of some of Oxford’s most dramatic architectural statements, intimate library interiors and artefacts. (Duration: 1.5 hours)
Book on 01865 277280; cost £5

Public lecture by Dr Stephen Johnston, Museum of the History of Science
Dr Johnston is one of Compass and Rule’s curators. He discusses how the ingenuity of instrument makers was tied to the world of architectural design.
Free admission

Anthony Gerbino and Stephen Johnston provide a curator’s guide to the exhibition.
Free - no need to book.

Be inspired by futuristic visions and make exciting structures out of card and other materials.
Suitable for children aged 7 upwards.
To be held in the Basement Gallery
No need to book just come along.

Public lecture by Dr Anthony Gerbino, University of Oxford
Dr Gerbino is an architectural historian and co-curator of Compass and Rule. Here he talks about the making of the exhibition.
Free admission.

Gallery Tour by Thad Parsons
Free - no need to book.

Anthony Gerbino and Stephen Johnston provide a curator’s guide to the exhibition.
Free - no need to book.

Find out how Morse code works and have fun sending messages with the museum’s funky telegraphic apparatus.
Suitable for all aged 7 upwards.
To be held in the Basement Gallery
No need to book just come along.

Supported by MLA. This event is part of the London 2012 Open Weekend supported by BP – an open invitation to get involved in the three day national celebration marking the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In association with our current special exhibition Compass and Rule.

Free to attend

Discover the mathematical secrets of Renaissance architecture, how to build a dome and draw a perfect spiral.
Suitable for ages 9-13.
Held in the Basement Gallery
Booking is required - call 01865 277280.

Supported by MLA. This event is part of the London 2012 Open Weekend supported by BP – an open invitation to get involved in the three day national celebration marking the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In association with our current special exhibition Compass and Rule.

Free to attend

Supported by MLA. This event is part of the London 2012 Open Weekend supported by BP – an open invitation to get involved in the three day national celebration marking the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In association with our current special exhibition Compass and Rule.

Free to attend

Curator-led tour explores the themes of the exhibition among the buildings of Oxford, from the Museum to Merton College via the Sheldonian, Bodleian and Queen’s College. A fresh view of some of Oxford’s most dramatic architectural statements, intimate library interiors and artefacts. (Duration: 1.5 hours)
Book on 01865 277280; cost £5

Public lecture by Dr Anthony Geraghty, University of York
Dr Geraghty is a leading authority on Christopher Wren. His catalogue of the Wren drawings at All Souls College, Oxford was published in 2007 and he is currently researching the history of the Sheldonian Theatre.
Free admission.

From morning to night, a whole day on the compass-inspired theme of ‘Circle’ - cuneiform mathematics to Stonehenge, circular railways to cyclotrons. Check the Museum website for the complete programme of talks, music, film, trails, workshops and tours.
Free admission.

Anthony Gerbino and Stephen Johnston provide a curator’s guide to the exhibition.
Free - no need to book.

Follow a special trail and then make your own cabinet of curiosities.
Suitable for children aged 5-11.
To be held in the Basement Gallery
No need to book just come along.

Practical geometry and typography from Albrecht Durer to Joseph Moxon.
By Stephen Johnston
Free - no need to book.

Cameras, microscopes and other instruments will inspire imaginative visions and role-play in this workshop for creative young story writers.

Suitable for children aged 9 upwards.
Held in the Basement Gallery
Booking is required - call 01865 277280.

A special trail and drop-in activity as part of the celebrations of Alice's Day in Oxford City Centre.
Suitable for all the family.
No need to book just come along.

Make a very special book inspired by buildings, with folded columns and other bits and bobs.
Suitable for ages 7 upwards.
This event is held in the Basement Gallery and there is no need to book in - just come along.

By Stephen Johnston
Free and no need to book.

By Jim Bennett
Free and no need to book
A large table in the Basement Gallery is used for informal talks and demonstrations.

Discover the secrets of Galileo’s invention and make your own working telescope. Involves some theory of optics.
Suitable for ages 9-13.
Voluntary materials donation £5.
This event is held in the Basement Gallery and booking is required - call 01865 277280.

Discover the power of electricity, the story of lightning, and make your own electric toy.
Suitable for children aged 7 upwards.
This event is held in the Basement Gallery and there is no need to book - just come along.

Discover the power of electricity, the story of lightning, and make your own electric toy.
Suitable for children aged 7 upwards.
This event is held in the Basement Gallery and there is no need to book - just come along.

Dissection of eyeballs and some curious visual experiments will help you understand what it is to see.
Suitable for age 9 upwards.
This event is held in the Basement Gallery and there is no need to book, just come along.

By Stephen Johnston
Free and no need to book
A large table in the Basement Gallery is used for informal talks and demonstrations.

Discover the secrets of navigation and how the early spice traders found their way to the glittering prize of the East.
Suitable for children aged 9-13.
This event is held in the Basement Gallery and booking is required - call 01865 277280.

By Jim Bennett
Free and no need to book
A large table in the Basement Gallery is used for informal talks and demonstrations.

Make your own drawings and prints using lenses and microscopes and submit your work to the online gallery.
Suitable for children aged 7 upwards.
This event is held in the Basement Gallery and there's no need to book - just come along.

Family friendly activities are included in the programme of events.
Suitable for all the family.
No need to book - just come along.

SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT SOCIETY

1983 – 2008

25th Anniversary Members’ Special Loan Exhibition

The Society was founded by a very small group of enthusiasts in a house in South London in the Spring of 1983. Membership has grown considerably since then and to celebrate our 25th anniversary it is proposed that there should be an exhibition of Members’ own instruments, to be held at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford from 19 August to 26 October 2008.

We will use three exhibition cases in the entrance gallery and the remainder of the objects will be placed within the permanent displays throughout the Museum. The message is that serious collecting can complement and enhance museum work and display. Our novel approach will create a unique event in the world of scientific instruments.

Members are invited to submit suggestions for exhibits and will be encouraged to provide text for special labels. In emphasising the role of the collector, it will be particularly appropriate to communicate the personal significance and the story of each instrument. Label text may nevertheless be edited for conformity, accuracy or contextual purposes. Instruments can be exhibited with the name of the exhibitor or anonymously. Contributions need not be exclusively instrumental, and associated material such as ephemera is very welcome: the more broad-ranging the better!

It will be necessary for the exhibiting Member to arrange the transport of their objects to and from the Museum (or they can be delivered in person). In consultation with contributing Members, the Museum will establish a schedule for delivery, which must be adhered to so that objects can be safely received and checked.

If you are interested in displaying some of the items in your collection please fill in and return the preliminary form by 20 April. Please give a brief description of each item so that the Organising Committee can make a selection, should we have too many submissions, and as an aid when arranging the display. This Preliminary Form will not be disclosed outside the Organising Committee. The form is available as a Word document and the electronic submission of forms and digital images is strongly encouraged.

On 24 July at 3.46pm Alexis Lemaire broke the World Record for Mental Calculation in the top gallery of the Museum of the History of Science by successfully extracting the 13th Root of a 200 digit number without using calculator, pen or paper. Lemaire managed to find the 16 digit solution in an astonishing 77.99 seconds.

The 27 year-old Artificial Intelligence researcher already holds the record for extracting the 13th Root of a 100 digit number (at a virtually unbeatable 3.62 seconds) and after four years of intense training, he now holds the record for calculating the 13th root of a 200 digit number.

School teaches us that the second (square) root of 4 is 2 and that 2 is also the third (cube) root of 8. The 13th root of a number is deemed to be the most difficult mental calculation to perform because 13 is a prime number whose roots cannot be obtained by combining those of any other number. A computer generates 200 digit numbers at random giving Lemaire up to 390 trillion possible answers to run through before reaching the 16 digit answer.

Those of us who aren’t able to perform such complex calculations are intrigued to know how he does it. Lemaire explained that it is done through mathematical skill, calculating and most importantly memory: "When I think of numbers I sometimes see a movie, sometimes sentences. I can translate the numbers into words. The art is to convert memory chunks into some kind of structure. I see images, phrases and actions. I have associations between places and numbers. Some places are imaginary; I try to vary these so I don't confuse the numbers."

Geometrical Objects
Architecture and the Mathematical Sciences 1400-1800

Museum of the History of Science
and Worcester College, University of Oxford
19-20 March 2007

Final programme now available

Recent scholarship in the history of science has underscored the mutually reinforcing relationship between "high" and "low," or theoretical and practical, forms of early modern mathematics. As many historians have shown, mathematicians of the period were deeply involved in problems of instrument making, surveying, engineering, gunnery, and navigation. At the same time, the practitioners of these arts were increasingly concerned with questions of higher mathematics and natural philosophy as they pertained to the advancement of their craft. In fact, practitioners appear to have provided an important intellectual and technical context for many of the period’s mathematical discoveries – an essential development, historians now maintain, in the larger history of the "scientific revolution."

Architecture, too, was a "mathematical" art, almost wholly dependent on geometrical or arithmetic operations of some form or another. The process of design itself – insofar as it required the application of consistent proportional rules – was largely defined by them, as were many other basic tasks. Surveying, cost estimates, bookkeeping, and even the use of routine graphic techniques – perspective, scaled orthogonal drawing, and stereotomic diagrams – all entailed a certain amount of mathematical training. Nor were these skills limited to the design of buildings. Architects also used calculations in mapping cities, laying out fortifications, and planning hydraulic projects for gardens, dams, and canals. Military and civil engineering had long been part of the Vitruvian tradition.

This symposium seeks to explore issues and questions raised by this situation. To what extent can the architect be considered a "mathematical practitioner"? What role did architectural practice and building technologies play in the broader evolution of mathematics? How did architects see themselves in relation to mathematicians and scientists? What are the documented cases of contact or conflict between these groups?

Organizers

Anthony Gerbino, Worcester College, University of Oxford
Mario Carpo, École d’Architecture de Paris–La Villette
Marco Panza, CNRS and Université de Paris 7

Participants

• Kirsti Andersen, The Steno Institute, History of Science Department, Aarhus University
  • "The Geometry of an Art: Architects and Perspective"
  
  
• Francesco Benelli, Dept of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University
  • "Invisible Geometry: The Palazzo Del Podestà in Bologna"


• Henk J. M. Bos, Mathematisch Institut, Universiteit Utrecht
  • "When Is a Curve Known? The Reaction of 17th-century Mathematicians to the New Wealth of Hitherto Unknown Curves"


• Bernard Cache, Berlage Institute, Rotterdam and Objectile, Paris
  • "Commensurability and Proportionality in the De Architectura"


• Filippo Camerota, Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Florence
  • "Mathematical Sciences and Baroque Architecture: on the Villa Pamphilj, Oblique Architecture, and Vittone's Newtonianism"


• David Friedman, Department of Architecture, Massachussetts Institute of Technology
  • "UA 4180: Survey and Urban Design in the Rome of Paul IV"


• Pascal Dubourg Glatigny, Centre Alexandre Koyré, CNRS, Paris
  • "Architecture and Science in Rome, 1740: The St-Peter's Dome Collapse"


• Jacques Heyman, Faculty of Engineering (Emeritus), University of Cambridge
  • "Geometry, Mechanics, and Analysis in Architecture"


• Ann Huppert, School of Architecture, University of Kansas
  • "Baldassarre Peruzzi, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, and Practical Mathematics in Renaissance Architectural Practice"


• Stephen Johnston, Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford
  • "Fit for a King? Architecture, Instruments and Audience in 18th-century England"


• Jeanne Kisacky, University of Syracuse
  • "Breathing Room: Measuring the Immaterial Requirements of Architecture"


• Susan Klaiber, Winterthur, Switzerland
  • "Architecture and Mathematics in Early Modern Religious Orders"




Further Enquiries




The conference is sponsored by the Graham Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, Worcester College, and the John Fell Fund of the University of Oxford. Attendance is open to all without charge. However there is a limit on places available and anyone wishing to attend must register with Anthony Gerbino by 1 March 2007. He can be contacted for registration or other enquiries at: anthony.gerbino (at) worcester.oxford.ac.uk.




Note added 19 January 2007: the conference is now fully subscribed and no more registrations can be taken.

A tick-tocking trail to discover curious clocks and terrific timepieces. Pick up this self-guided trail in the Entrance Gallery during Museum opening hours. Suitable for ages 7+.