Daniel’s Story

Verge watch, London, c.1750 (Inv. 52706). Although this watch is more than 200 years old, its face is incredibly similar to those we wear today.

Verge watch, London, c.1750 (Inv. 52706). Although this watch is more than 200 years old, its face is incredibly similar to those we wear today.

Name: Daniel

Occupation: Student

Object: Analogue watch

Story:  I recently received a watch, from a loved one, as a gift. I adore it, it is bluff and appealing. However, something more then that attracts me to it. It tells the time just like another watch I’ve seen, the one in the picture displayed, and that watch is hundreds of years old. Put simply, I love the somewhat sentimental thought that time today is as time yesterday and time tomorrow.

I hope that this object won’t one day merely be one of purely historical interest. To my mind, the analogue watch or, it as I prefer to call it, the watch is one of those special scientific objects which cannot be improved upon if it is to retain its natural character. That is to say, it cannot be added to in function if is to remain, simply, a timepiece. The essence of the watch is demeaned and betrayed by throwing in bells and whistles, weather-dials, musical output and whatever other flight of fancy take a modern designer’s mind.

A standard 12 point circular display is, truly, a thing of beauty but it is more than that: it is a constant link to our collective past. Such a face tells the time as Dickens saw it as he wrote long into the night, as Churchill glimpsed it whilst toiling under London when Britain stood alone, as Big Ben displayed and displays it to all as eras passed and new sun’s rise. In our time when we are increasingly driven by the unceasing demand for quantifiable progress in each aspect of our yet more corporate world, and in which each minute seems to be worth more than the last, there is something deeply reassuring in seeing time as our forebears saw it and remembering that for us, as them, a minute hasn’t changed.

Peter’s Story

This is that planisphere Peter uses, it looks very different to the Museum's one below! The big dipper can be seen to the right of the pole star.

This is the planisphere Peter uses, it looks very different to the Museum’s one at the bottom of the post! The big dipper can be seen to the right of the pole star.

Name: Peter

Age: Ancient

From: Oxford

Object: Planisphere

Story: My modern planisphere is shown in the photo above. The brass rivet at its centre marks the position of the pole star. Because the Earth rotates daily, all stars seem to revolve about the pole star. By setting the date and time a planisphere shows which stars are visible in the night sky.

I like it because it can also be used in reverse, like a nocturnal, to tell the time at night:

  • Face north (in the direction of the pole star).
  • Hold the planisphere vertically in front of you with the oval sky-opening towards the top.
  • Keeping the front disk of the planisphere fixed, rotate the star disk until the orientation of the big dipper (plough) on the star disk matches that of the big dipper in the sky.
  • The time can now be read out against today’s date at the edge of the planisphere. [During the British Summer Time you will have to add an hour.]

    Celestial Planisphere, London, Early 19th Century (Inv. 40743). This planisphere is about 200 years old!

    Celestial Planisphere, London, Early 19th Century (Inv. 40743). This planisphere from the Museum’s collections is about 200 years old!

Washington Teasdale’s Story

Photograph (Cyanotype) of a Still Life Arrangement of Items Relating to Astronomy by Washington Teasdale, c.1880 (Inv. 38479)

Photograph (Cyanotype) of a Still Life Arrangement of Items Relating to Astronomy by Washington Teasdale, c.1880 (Inv. 38479)

Name: Washington Teasdale

Dates: 1830-1903

Location: Leeds

Occupation: Engineer

Object: Photograph (Cyanotype) of a Still Life Arrangement of Items Relating to Astronomy, by Washington Teasdale, Probably 1880s (Inv. 38479)

Print (Collotype, from a Photograph) of Washington Teasdale at his Desk, c.1897 (Inv. 35156) This is probably a self-portrait of Teasdale.

Print (Collotype, from a Photograph) of Washington Teasdale at his Desk, c.1897 (Inv. 35156) This is probably a self-portrait of Teasdale.

Story: The photograph above was chosen as the main exhibition image because it was taken by an amateur scientist and photographer, Washington Teasdale (1830-1903). Washington Teasdale was an engineer by profession, but in his spare time his interests ranged greatly through many areas of the sciences. In this respect he was very much a typical Victorian amateur scientist, because he did not like to focus on one single science, but all of them. Victorian scientific amateurs can also be called gentlemen scientists. These were men of means who had the time and the money to invest into their hobbies. The materials and instruments needed were expensive and it would require extensive free time to set up and perform experiments. The sciences they dabbled in included astronomy, geology, geometry, microscopy, mechanics, meteorology, and photography. In addition to photography being one of his hobbies, Teasdale used it to capture and represent his scientific interests.

Photograph (Gelatine Print) of Henry Perigal in his Study, by Washington Teasdale and George Smith, April 4, 1897 (Inv. 76721). Henry Perigal was a British stockbroker and amateur mathematician, and a friend of Teasdale.

Photograph (Gelatine Print) of Henry Perigal in his Study, by Washington Teasdale and George Smith, April 4, 1897 (Inv. 76721). Henry Perigal was a British stockbroker and amateur mathematician, and a friend of Teasdale.

In our chosen photograph he has arranged a number of astronomical instruments – which he may have used personally – as a way to display his interest in astronomy and the orbital motion. Teasdale also took a photograph of a similar representation using a tableau for biology and microscopy, and we will be displaying it in the exhibition. Cyanotype photographs are blue because they are made by being exposed to different chemicals and light at an earlier point in the developing process. Teasdale used this process to produce many photographs, but he also took gelatine print photographs, often of portraits of scientists who he met whilst a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Teasdale was from Leeds, and so the majority of his photographs were taken there. He even helped re-establish the Leeds Astronomical Society. He liked to portray himself as a modest amateur, and not one destined for great things or professional status. Even though he saw himself as modest, he frequently made trips to London to visit friends who were amateur scientists and to attend meetings of various scientific and non-scientific societies which had become a staple in Victorian Britain.

If you would like to learn more about Washington Teasdale you can visit the narrative on the website here, or visit the display of a number of objects from his collection in the entrance gallery of the Museum of the History of Science.

We have named the small mannequin in the cyanotype photograph which is being used as our main exhibition photograph as Dale, after Teasdale, and hope to take him on a range of adventures investigating our love of everyday science. Look out for future blog posts on this!

By Lynn Atkin

Liz’s Story

Model Aircraft! Photo credit: Buccaneer finished! by Kris Davies (license)

Model Aircraft! Photo credit: Buccaneer finished! by Kris Davies (license)

Name: Liz

Occupation: Historian

From: Ireland

Object: Airfix aircraft

Story: I was fascinated by aircraft and model aircraft from an early age.  My dad gave me his copy of “Biggles Learns to Fly” when I was seven and I developed a fascination with historic aircraft, especially those from World War One, which continues to this day.  I regularly dragged my parents and siblings to air shows and aviation museums and would meet them in the café afterwards as I liked to read and look at everything in the various museums and also question the gallery assistants too.

When I was 10, I was brought to Eason’s, a book shop and department shop in Dublin city centre, where I discovered their model aircraft section and never looked back!  It may have been the paint and glue fumes or maybe just my passion for aircraft, their technology and history, but I got a real high from carefully building and painting model aircraft and hanging them from the ceiling of my bedroom with thin wire and blu-tack.  I would buy an Airfix aircraft set and then read up on the history of the aeroplane and the people who flew them.

Susan’s Story

Susan Blackwood

Susan Blackwood

March 28th 1984

I’ve been asked to write something about my experiences of the use of Penicillin in its very early days.

I started my First Part Midwifery Course at the Radcliffe Infirmary in September 1941, & was there for 6 months. However due to failing the examination twice I had to take a three month refresher course between September and November 1942 – when I finally passed!

At some time during these two periods I ‘specialled’ a woman in the isolation ward who developed puerperal fever after being delivered of an 11lb bruiser with red hair.

This woman would normally have died but due to Penicillin provided by Mrs Dr Florey, who was working with her husband, she survived. This was administered in […] intramuscular injections, & was very crude and bright yellow. It also had to be reclaimed by saving the patient’s urine, & woe betide the nurse who accidentally threw it away! Nora […], who as Nora Stanley-Smith was at the Racliffe with me remembers another occasion when Penicillin was used. This was a woman with thrombosis of both legs, who had been delivered of twins on the district & was brought in. She too survived, when normally she would have died.

As this was rather a long time ago & we took it all in a day’s work & hardly realised that it was history in the making although we looked up to the Floreys – This account may not be intirely accurate but the gist of it is true as I remember it.

Susan P. Blackwood

 

Penicillin Specimen, c.1941 (Inv. 16920)

Penicillin Specimen, c.1941 (Inv. 16920)

Our first historic story has been transcribed from a letter written by Susan in which she discussed her experience of penicillin as a nurse who worked at the Radcliffe Infirmary during the later years of the Second World War. Susan would have been one of the first nurses to administer penicillin to human patients. The development of penicillin for combating serious infections in humans was a dramatic breakthrough in the history of medicine. It has been called one of the greatest success stories of the 20th century and has saved an untold number of lives. Susan’s story shows us how we may be so caught up in tasks and jobs we love that we can often miss the significance of scientific discoveries around us.

During the Second World War, and Susan’s time at the Radcliffe Infirmary, a group of doctors working at Oxford developed a therapeutic strain of penicillin to be used in the human body. This team included Dr Norman Heatley, Dr Margaret Florey (née Jennings), Dr Howard Florey and Dr Edward Abraham. They built on the work of Dr Alexander Fleming who had determined the antiseptic properties of penicillin ten years earlier. The Museum of the History of Science has a number of objects from the Oxford team, including the original Penicillin culture. There is a display on the work in the basement gallery; have a look when you next visit and when reading about the Nobel Prize winning doctors involved, remember Susan and her more everyday story of the science involved.

Special thanks to Anthony at the Museum of the History of Science for providing this amazing story and the letter and photograph to go with it! Any transcription mistakes are our own.

Joanna’s Story

Crystal Garden in a Jam-Jar by Joanna (3)

One of Joanna’s great photographs of the crystal garden in a jam-jar she made last week.

Name: Joanna

From: Oxford

Object: Crystal Garden

Story: As a child, in the 1950s, encouraged by my father I set about making a crystal garden in a jam-jar. The brilliance of the colours and feathery forms of the crystals was probably one of my first experiences of chemistry and the sense of wonder has stayed with me through the years.

Who was to know that much later, in my twenties, I would find myself in a laboratory at the University of Oxford, growing crystals as part of my job. My aim was to grow a crystal of rabbit troponin C, a key protein vital in muscle contraction. With a crystal, chemists can work out the structure of very complex molecules such as proteins and find out much about how they operate in the body.

Amazingly after only a few months of working on this project, one morning, on examining my tubes of solution, I discovered the first ever recorded crystal of rabbit troponin C glistening in the bright morning light. It was a spectacular crystal and you can see a photograph of it published in Nature (Mercola, D., Bullard, B., and Priest, J., Nature Vol. 254 p 634-635 April 17 1975).

Dorothy Hodgkin, who had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1964) for her work on the use of crystals to discover the structure of biological molecules using X-ray diffraction, just happened to be in the department that morning. To my intense pride, she came and looked down my microscope at the precious crystal!

Close up of the crystal garden.

Close up of Joanna’s crystal garden.

For fun last week I made a crystal garden once again and have included some photographs with this recollection for any reader who has never made one!

Mallainee’s Story

Compound Monocular Microscope (Inv. 35972)

Compound Monocular Microscope (Inv. 35972)

Name: Mallainee

Little daphnia under a microscope. Photo credit: Daphnies by Thomas Bresson (license)

Little daphnia under a microscope. Photo credit: Daphnies by Thomas Bresson (license)

Age: 22

From: Toowoomba, Australia

Occupation: Teacher

Object: Microscope

Story: I was using a microscope to examine the heart rate of daphnia when the daphnia released its eggs and gave birth in front of 20 year 12 students. Needless to say they were very excited to reuse the daphnia for their population unit.

Victor’s Story

Autochrome of Madeira by Sarah Angelina Acland, c.1910 (Inv. 27910)

Autochrome of Madeira by Sarah Angelina Acland, c.1910 (Inv. 27910). Imagine flying Victor’s quadcoper over a view like this.

Name: Victor

Age: 58

From: Nova Scotia, Canada

Occupation: Retired

Object: Quadcopter

Story: In the past 5 years I’ve been able to identify and perfect the components of a quadcopter which has allowed me to better appreciate the landscape around me. It has a camera that in real time broadcasts what it flies over, which I’m able to see with a set of head mounted goggles. During a recent trip I spotted a quadcopter for sale from a dispensing machine, showing just how quickly they have become integrated into our society.

Ben’s Story

Boom! Mmmmm, tasty. Photo credit: DSCF1311s by deradrian (license)

Boom! Photo credit: DSCF1311s by deradrian (license)

Name: Ben

Test Tube Stand with Test Tubes, Mid-19th Century (Inv. 34639)

Test Tube Stand with Test Tubes, Mid-19th Century (Inv. 34639)

Age: 15

From: Newcastle, UK

Occupation: Student

Object: Chemistry Kit

Story: When I was five my grandparents bought me a large chemistry set. Doing the proper experiments was boring, so I just mixed everything together in a flask and pushed a cork into the top. After a minute or so the cork blew off the flask and sprayed the contents all over the ceiling of my bedroom.

Steve’s Story

photo credit: smoress via photopin (license)

Perfect for dessert. Photo credit: smoress by llinddsayy (license)

Name: Steven

Age: 23

Occupation: Student

From: Oxford

Object: Camp Stove

Story: It’s a childhood right of passage to make s’mores at a campfire. Your stick, laden with marshmallows, is dangling over the snapping fire.  Do you have the patience to wait for the marshmallow to get perfectly golden brown?  Or will you stick it in the fire, set it ablaze, and blow it out, leaving a robe of black over the gooey interior?  Regardless of your choice, you’ll place the marshmallow on a chunk of chocolate, and sandwich it between two graham crackers – the American cousin of the digestive biscuit.

Bunsen Burner (Inv. 40900). We wonder if you could make s'mores with the flame from this?

Bunsen Burner (Inv. 40900). We wonder if you could make s’mores with the flame from this?

We don’t always have the luxury of being in the wilderness to make a fire when the desire for s’mores hits.  Sometimes, you have to improvise, and it’s certainly better living with technology.  For just such occasions, you can save a tree and instead reach for a camp stove.  One night at university, my friends and I had the urge to cook up some marshmallows.  We grabbed our camp stove and headed out to the patio.  As designated chef/pyrotechnician, I set up the burner.  I lifted the metal apparatus, and filled the reservoir with lamp oil.  I wiggled the lever, in order to send oil through the burner.  And then I lit it.  Apparently, I’m a better fire-starter than I anticipated, because I managed to singe the hair off of my forearm.  But for sitting on our patio, eating marshmallows, and thinking about our childhoods, having hairless arms for a while was a small price to pay.