About this site
This site explains the history and use of three groups of instruments held at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science: astronomical instruments, models, and microscopes. The Museum is part of the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, and has a collection of over 6000 objects.
How to use this site
Browse the articles by clicking on the section headings in the main menu. Each section contains a number of articles, some of which contain links to more articles on the same or related topics. There is also a section of interactives.
Some articles contain terms which are more complicated, and these have a glossary button next to the word. Here you will find a brief definition of the term.
People's names are cross-referenced, and this is indicated by the 'XR' button. Clicking on the 'XR' button takes you to a list of names, with the articles in which they feature listed below.
Acknowledgements
[http://www.mla.gov.uk/website/programmes/designation/00desig/]"Explore Whipple Collections" was funded by a grant from the Designation Challenge Fund [http://www.mla.gov.uk/website/programmes/designation/00desig/], which is administered by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council [http://www.mla.gov.uk/].
The authors of the articles are named at the bottom of each relevant page, many of whom are past students of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. Site created by George MacKerron [http://www.mackerron.com/] using electrostatic [http://www.electrostatic.org.uk/]. Photography by Whipple Museum staff. Interactives designed by Cipher Arts [http://www.cipherarts.com/].
The Whipple Museum staff would like to thank the following people for their help in creating this web site: the staff and students of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge; members of the project Steering Group; our focus group and evaluation participants. Thanks also to John S. Murray for permission to use his image of Dr. Dillon Weston.
Contact details
If you would like to contact us, please see the contact page [http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/whipple/contact/#address] on the main Whipple Museum website.
