Historic Scientific Instruments Are Focus of International Workshop

Newswise — Rare and old science apparatus from around the globe are the focus of an international workshop June 21-24 hosted at the University of Mississippi.

At least 15 countries are expected to be represented among the gathering of historians, scientists, educators, curators and archivists for the "International Workshop on Scientific Instrument Collections in the University."

"The aim of this workshop is to foster the better utilization of the vast resource of instrument collections available in academic institutions worldwide for both scholarship and science education," said Thomas Marshall, chair and professor of physics and astronomy at UM and principal investigator on the U.S. National Science Foundation grant supporting the workshop. "We are planning to have an interdisciplinary gathering of historians, scientists, educators, curators, archivists and others who are interested in using these collections in different ways."

Sponsored by the Scientific Instrument Commission (part of the International Union on the History and Philosophy of Science), the workshop is also supported by the UM offices of the Chancellor, Provost and Research and Sponsored Programs, as well as the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the University Museum.

Approximately 75 participants from 15 countries " including France, England, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Brazil, Portugal, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the United States " plan to attend.

All sessions are to be held in the Yerby Conference Center, except the opening session, which is set for Barnard Observatory. Space is limited and priority will be given to registrants, but some sessions are open to the public on a space-available basis. The historical and pedagogical significance of scientific instruments from around the world is to be highlighted.

The Millington-Barnard Collection housed at University Museum includes instruments that were originally used to teach natural philosophy, or physics, to UM students as early as the 1850s. Throughout the four-day workshop, participants will have the opportunity to view the permanent collection at the museum during its regular hours of 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1-4:30 p.m. Sunday.

The group also will be offered tours of Barnard Observatory, an 1859 replica of Russia's famous Poulkovo Observatory; and Kennon Observatory, which houses the largest telescope in the United States ever made by the Victorian telescope maker Howard Grubb.

Keynote speakers include Marta Lourenco of the University of Lisbon in Portugal, discussing the significance of university collections; Frank Winkler from Middlebury College, talking about using historic instruments in the classroom; and Paolo Brenni, president of the Scientific Instrument Commission, speaking on the future of university collections.

Contributed papers are to be presented by scholars from 13 countries, including the U.S. The workshop steering committee includes experts from Dartmouth College, the Smithsonian Institution, Canada's Science and Technology Museum, Spain's University of Alicante and the U.S.'s Harvard, Transylvania and Santa Clara universities.

"The first SICU gathering was held at Dartmouth College in 2004," said Maribeth Stolzenberg, research assistant professor of physics and astronomy at UM. "This workshop is a follow-on step for the SICU community, where we will address in more depth some of the unique challenges faced by those who are trying to preserve and utilize university collections.

"We also want to continue to increase awareness among people who, as yet, may not recognize the importance of their collections. We are excited to have so many junior scholars from the U.S. and so many people connected with international collections getting involved."

Albert Sperath, director of the University Museum and Historic Houses, explained one of the reasons that UM is involved in SCIU. "The Millington-Barnard Collection is a vital part of our cultural and scientific heritage, and we're proud to still have them," he said. "Now we need to be creative in finding ways to make them more accessible to today's students and understandable to the public. That's why we've gotten involved in the SCIU efforts."

For more information about SICU2, go to http://home.olemiss.edu/~sicu2web/. For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7236.