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da Vinci Quincentenary Exhibition of 1952
This article tells the story of the Science Museum’s role in an exhibition at the Royal Academy, London, in 1952, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Leonardo da Vinci, and in particular in displaying mechanical models based on Leonardo’s drawings.
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James Short and John Harrison: personal genius and public knowledge
This is a study of the positive relationship between James Short and John Harrison, set in two eighteenth-century contexts: the notion of individual aptitude or ‘genius’ unspoilt by education or training; and the problem of how individual ability might be captured and formulated as public knowledge.
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Philip Carpenter and the convergence of science
For the instrument makers of the early-nineteenth century there was no distinction between scientific and popular instruments. Exploring the case of the optician Phillip Carpenter, this article will address three popular media formats — the 1817 Kaleidoscope, 1821 Phantasmagoria Lantern and 1827 Microcosm.
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Reading, writing, drawing and making in the 18th-century instrument trade
In 1761–62, King George III commissioned a group of philosophical instruments from the London instrument-maker George Adams. This article traces Adams’s techniques of borrowing and adapting printed instrument designs, as he produced this spectacular collection.
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Review: Perfect Mechanics: Instrument Makers at the Royal Society of London in the Eighteenth Century, by Richard Sorrenson
A critical review of the publication Perfect Mechanics: Instrument Makers at the Royal Society of London in the Eighteenth Century, by Richard Sorrenson
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Review: Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee (Royal College of Physicians, 18 January–29 July 2016)
Review of the exhibition Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee at the Royal College of Physicians
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Understanding storm surges in the North Sea: Ishiguro’s electronic modelling machine
An introduction to one of the star objects in Mathematics: The Winton Gallery, an electronic storm surge modelling machine.