We may be a small museum, but we get up to lots of different things… If you’ve ever wondered what happens here in a typical day, then take a look at this short film. Thanks to Tom Wilkinson and Tom Fuller in the University of Oxford Public Affairs Directorate for putting this together.
Our latest special exhibition, ‘Dear Harry…’ – Henry Moseley: A Scientist Lost to War, is now open and we are pleased to say that people are taking an enthusiastic interest in Moseley’s important story. The exhibition is part biography, part World War I centenary, and part history of science. It presents Harry Moseley intimately as a son, scientist, and soldier.
A great piece of coverage for the exhibition was on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, where our director Dr Silke Ackermann chatted with presenter John Humphrys about the impact of Moseley’s scientific work on the x-ray spectra of the elements, and the subsequent ordering of the Periodic Table, and the legacy of his death in Gallipoli, Turkey on 10 August 1915. She was joined by Professor Andy Parker, head of the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University.
One of the questions raised by Moseley’s death was whether a scientist’s life is ‘too valuable’ to be lost on the battlefield, and if so whom should we send to war instead. As part of the Dear Harry… programme of events the Museum will host a debate in October under the heading ‘Too Valuable to Die?’, a phrase used at the time of Moseley’s death, and a question that will be discussed from different perspectives by a panel drawn from a range of backgrounds.
Watch out for more about the Dear Harry… exhibition on this blog and have a listen to the Today interviews using the player above.
By Scott Billings
The Moon came, the Moon went, and for a brief moment we were reminded that we inhabit a lump of rock floating in the middle of space. The word ‘eclipse’ derives from the Greek ekleipsis, which means an abandonment, or forsaking. When the Sun is obscured from view in the middle of the day, that’s rather how it feels.
But it’s also very exciting, so the MHS team headed out to the Sheldonian courtyard next door to witness today’s partial solar eclipse. The short video below shows what we managed to see through a pair of binoculars, with the image projected onto some card. There was also an impressive array of pinhole cameras and a mini camera obscura, all of which managed to produce an image of the Sun and Moon at some point.
Sadly, no one brought their 18th-century “Eclipseometers“, like the one at the top of this post, but our assistant keeper Stephen did grab a nice photo of the eclipse nestled amongst Oxford’s ‘dreaming spires’. Until 2090, that’s your lot.