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Launch of the Digital Equatorium

Jun 9, 2014
5 min

Launch of the Digital Equatorium

I wrote this post for the Peterhouse Perne and Ward Libraries blog. It is cross-posted from there with their kind permission. 28 May saw the launch at the Whipple Museum of the online Peterhouse Manuscripts Collection, housed in the Cambridge Digital Library. The collection aims to present highlights from the College’s collection of 276 medieval manuscripts, and will be developed as time and funding allow. High-quality images are presented alongside searchable transcript

Feb 14, 2014
1 min

The Scholar as Craftsman: Notes and Records article

Regular readers of this blog (if there are any, I should apologise to them for my long silence) will be familiar with the story of King Arthur’s Table. You won’t need me to remind you how I was lucky enough to discover this forgotten object in the stores of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, and then spent much of 2013 investigating its biography. You’ll already know, I’m sure, that the story takes in Sir Lawrence Bragg, the Cavendish Laboratory and its workshops.

Researching King Arthur’s Table at the Adler Planetarium

Oct 15, 2013
2 min

Researching King Arthur’s Table at the Adler Planetarium

This post is cross-posted from the blog of the Adler Planetarium, Chicago, USA. It was written after a research visit I made to the Adler in June 2013. Tucked away on the lower level of the Adler Planetarium is the Webster Institute for the History of Astronomy. It may be located way below the Grainger Sky Theater, but it can still inspire cosmic wonder in historians like me. I'm a student at the University of Cambridge, and I was lucky enough to visit the Webster Institute

Oct 7, 2013
2 min

Video: Connecting with Collections Symposium

I was pleased to be able to speak at (and help organise) the Connecting with Collections Symposium a few weeks ago. That event showcased some of the work that was done as part of the AHRC-funded Connecting with Collections internship scheme. The day went pretty well, I think. For those that weren’t able to make it, I have put a recording of my presentation together with the slides I used, to create a lovely video which summarises the research I did during my internship. I

Museums and their Public

Aug 2, 2013
5 min

Museums and their Public

What do museums owe the public? And what should the public give museums? These questions have been on my mind recently, as I’ve been completing an internship at Cambridge’s Whipple Museum of the History of Science. The Whipple is part of Cambridge University and has an ambiguous relationship with the public. It is open to all, and entrance is free. But the founding charter of the Museum emphasizes its importance as “a teaching instrument and an accessory to modern researc

Titbits in the archives: how to make and move an equatorium

Apr 23, 2013
3 min

Titbits in the archives: how to make and move an equatorium

This post is cross-posted from the Connecting with Collections blog. At the start of this project I was only hoping to find some documentation linked to the equatorium that Derek Price built – so I was amazed when I found the equatorium itself. It’s now on display in the Whipple Museum for the History of Science (open Monday-Friday, 12.30-4.30; admission free). But I still haven’t found much of the documentation I was searching for in the first place. I imagined I’d be ab

King Arthur’s Table goes on display

Mar 19, 2013
1 min

King Arthur’s Table goes on display

This post is cross-posted from the Connecting with Collections blog. Last Friday was a proud day, as the object I re-discovered and am now researching went on display at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science. Here it is in its new home: The smaller model is the one I built (see my earlier posts for the full story). We’re displaying both models as an example of research in the Museum, and the work of the Connecting with Collections project. The glass panel will soo

King Arthur’s Table: From Cavendish to Whipple

Jan 8, 2013
2 min

King Arthur’s Table: From Cavendish to Whipple

Remember when I found King Arthur’s Round Table? I told the story way back in my second ever blog post. Go and have a read if you’ve not already – it’s quite the Indiana Jones adventure. Or just skip to the summary below… SUMMARY: Six-foot model of “my” equatorium built for top historian of science Derek de Solla Price in 1950s. Long lost. Found but not identified and renamed “King Arthur’s Table” by witty cataloguer. Found in the Whipple stores by me, with help from th

The Encyglobedia hits the news

Jan 2, 2013
3 min

The Encyglobedia hits the news

In between all the mince pies and playing with my new toys, I had an interesting lesson in media relations last week as a little piece of research I did attracted quite a bit of press attention. Early on the morning of the 28th, I was barely awake and leafing through The Times as I worked up the energy to go for a run… and was surprised to come across this little item on page 24: That report was based on a little research project I did for my master’s last year (summarised he

How I found King Arthur’s Round Table

Oct 21, 2012
3 min

How I found King Arthur’s Round Table

I’ve just started a research project focusing on a medieval manuscript, The Equatorie of the Planetis. This manuscript describes the construction and use of a curious astronomical instrument, and my previous post was about the first stages in my attempt to reconstruct that instrument, in order to better understand the manuscript. I’m still working on that, and will write all about the fun I had trying to divide a three-foot circle into 360 equal degrees very soon. Before th