Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
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Scientific fields: Astronomy, Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine, Microscopy, Photography, Physics
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Summary description:
Oxford's Museum of the History of Science is based on a donation of scientific instruments made in 1924. These are a spectacular set of astronomical instruments – astrolabe, telescopes, timepieces, quadrants – to which various additions, such as an armillary sphere (right) have been made up to the present. The objects range from the surreal to the mundane. One wonders how easy it would have been to use a solid silver microscope made for George III, but there can be no doubt of the utility of a surveying sextant used by Brunel.
Perhaps the most historically interesting exhibits are those based on scientific discoveries made in Oxford. Although Fleming famously discovered the fungus that makes penicillin at St Mary’s Hospital London in 1928, it wasn’t until work by Chain, Florey and others in Oxford from 1939 that its therapeutic potential was tested. 
The Oxford team tested various culture vessels, including bed pans and biscuit tins, before settling on square ceramic vessels. Artefacts from this period are on display. Later in the 1940s, the molecular structure of penicillin was discovered in Oxford by Dorothy Hodgkin, using X-ray crystallography (later she also discovered the structures of vitamin B12 and insulin). A model of a part of a penicillin salt, with individual atoms outlined by electron density diagrams drawn on sheets of perspex (left), provides a fascinating insight into Hodgkin's working methods.
Other notable exhibits include a set of equations chalked on a blackboard by Albert Einstein during a lecture in Oxford in 1931, a photographic developing set belonging to Lewis Carroll, a display case of instruments and devices used for counting and calculating from several thousand BC up to the present day, and the very curious "Countess of Westmoreland's lodestone" – a large chunk of natural magnetic material mounted with a crown.
Location:
Broad Street, central Oxford
Getting there:
The museum is about 15 minutes walk from Oxford's train station. If driving to Oxford, it is highly advisable to park at one of the "Park and Ride" car parks (of which there are five) on the outskirts of the city, and then take a bus into the centre.
Background:
The museum's collection is housed in the world's oldest-surviving building created purposely (in the seventeenth century) as a museum. Originally it housed the Ashmolean collection – mainly archaeological specimens and fine art – but this has now moved to larger premises in Oxford. The collections of the present museum are international and include many Islamic instruments as well as examples from the Far East and India as well as Europe.
Opening hours and charges:
Tuesday to Friday 12-5pm; Saturday 10am-5pm; Sunday 2pm-5pm; Monday: closed. Admission to the museum is free.
Website: www.mhs.ox.ac.uk
Related sites (partial list at present):
Museum of the History of Science, Florence