CHSI
The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
at Harvard University
Harvard University has been acquiring scientific instruments on a continuous basis for teaching and research since 1672. The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, which was established in 1948 to preserve this apparatus as a resource for teaching and research in the history of science and technology, has become one of the three largest university collections of its kind in the world. Originally associated with the Harvard library system, the Collection was placed under the stewardship of the Department of History of Science in 1987.
Pictured, clockwise above: Portrait of John Winthrop, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy (and acting president of Harvard College, 1769 & 1773), with his trusty telescope close at hand (Cassegrain reflecting telescope, James Short, England, c.1758, Inv. Number: 0053) ; Drs. Lee Davenport & Leo Lavatelli at the control console of Harvard's second cyclotron (Inv. Number: 2003-1-0291, U.S.A., c.1950); Ophthalmotrope (Inv. Number: WJ0002, Max Kohl, Germany, c. 1893); Participants use Professor Winthrop's telescope to enjoy Harvard's Festival of the Transit of Venus, 2004; Curator Sara Schechner, flanked by two conservators, examines an armillary sphere in need of repair, 2006.
Below: Electrostatic Sign (Inv. Number: 1998-1-0243, U.S.A., c. 1850 ).
Resources
Gallery Hours
Putnam Gallery
Science Center 136
Monday through Friday
11:00am to 4:00pm
Free and open to the public.
Children must be escorted by an adult.
The Putnam Gallery is closed on University Holidays.
Inquiries: 617-495-2779
Directions
The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments is located inside the Science Center, 1 Oxford Street, on Harvard's Cambridge campus.
