Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Science museum in Cambridge, United States
The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments is a science museum on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It holds telescopes, microscopes, measuring devices, and other tools spanning several centuries of scientific work.
The collection was established in 1948, when David P. Wheatland began keeping obsolete instruments in his office so they would not be cannibalized for parts and materials. It was long part of the Harvard Library system and now sits under the Department of the History of Science, one of the four Harvard Museums of Science and Culture. Its Science Center display spaces were expanded in 2004 with a four-story wing by Leers Weinzapfel Associates, replacing a one-story wing of Josep Lluís Sert's building.
Many of the instruments on display were used in Harvard classrooms, so you can see how students once learned astronomy, mathematics, and physics by handling real tools. Some objects still carry the marks left by the people who used them.
The museum sits in the heart of the Harvard campus and is easy to reach on foot if you are already in Cambridge. Allow enough time to walk through slowly, as there is a lot to take in and the objects reward a closer look.
The collection began in David P. Wheatland's office, where he gathered obsolete equipment to stop it being cannibalized for parts and materials. It was formally established in 1948, and its online catalogue Waywiser listed over 60% of its 20,000 objects as of 2014.
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