Past exhibitions and displays

We've been creating virtual versions of our exhibitions since 1995—take a look:

Elliott Brothers

This display illustrates the range of Elliott’s work in British instrument manufacturing in the 19th and 20th centuries, from drawing instruments to industrial measurement, navigational devices to engineering models.

24 May – 31 July 2011

Anvilled Stars

Matthew Galpin's meteor mirrors lay hidden amongst objects in the Museum's Top Gallery during his temporary exhibition.

20 November 2010 –6 February 2011

Islamic art featuring a pair scales, symbolising balance

Al-Mizan

Al-Mizan’ is the Arabic word for balance – both the familiar measuring instrument and the metaphorical pursuit of justice and harmony in all human endeavours. This exhibition explores the connections between the sciences and arts in Muslim societies.

26 October 2010 – 20 March 2011

Steampunk

The world’s first museum exhibition of Steampunk art, curated by American artist and designer Art Donovan, showcased the work of 18 Steampunk artists from across the globe, featuring Steampunk machines in action and costumed visitors on the Museum’s Steampunk Catwalk.

13 October 2009 – 21 February 2010

Compass and Rule: Architecture as Mathematical Practice in England, 1500-1750

Architecture in England was commonly identified as a branch of practical mathematics through design, the practical skills of drawing, and a reliance on measurement, calculation and proportion. This exhibition examines the work of such renowned figures as Sir Christopher Wren and Inigo Jones, together with less familiar characters, from Henry VIII’s engineers to London’s entrepreneurial instrument makers.

16 June – 6 September 2009

Heaven on Earth: Missionaries and the Mathematical Arts in 17th-century Beijing

In the year of the Beijing Olympics and the ‘China Now’ festival throughout the UK, the Museum built an exhibition around a remarkable set of 17th-century Chinese prints. Prepared under the direction of the Jesuit astronomer Ferdinand Verbiest, the set is a key witness to early modern cultural contact between Europe and China.

24 May – 7 September 2008

Items from the Scientific Instrument Society 25th Anniversary Exhibition

SIS 25

Scientific Instrument Society 25th Anniversary Exhibition offered a unique opportunity to see over 50 historical instruments, ephemera and books from 20 private collections.

19 August – 26 October 2008

Moonscope

The exhibition “moonscope” featured the work of the 18th-century artist John Russell and the contemporary watercolourist Rebecca Hind whose work responds to the moon as it “reveals many faces and yet still remains elusive”.

24 May – 16 September 2007

Time & Place: English Country Clocks 1600-1840

The Museum’s second exhibition organized in collaboration with the Antiquarian Horological Society showcases clocks of provincial origins. It quickly becomes clear that the clock is a powerful tool for studying how both technology and style not only spread but also are adapted to local circumstances.

25 November 2006 – 15 April 2007

Smallworlds image map with links to various parts of the exhibition

Small Worlds: the art of the invisible

‘Small Worlds: the art of the invisible’ is an exhibition of the miniature world of microscopic specimens, revealing the strange and wonderful contents of the Museum’s collection of some ten thousand slides.

31 October 2007 – 6 April 2008

Science in Islam

This exhibition provides a resource for secondary schools, bringing together a number of objects of Islamic origin that provide insight into some of the achievements and developments of Islamic science and technology, founded upon a legacy from the ancient world.

25 April – 25 July 2006

Marconi, Wireless World

This exhibition presents the first decades of the history of radio (or ‘wireless’), from Marconi’s pioneering experiments and demonstrations at the end of the 19th century to the beginning of public radio broadcasting in the 1920s. Explore the collection of Marconi artefacts at the Museum. View, browse and search the fully-illustrated online catalogue and download the first issue of ‘BroadSheet’, which features ‘Wireless World’.

25 April to 1 October 2006

The Astrolabe, East and West

The Museum of the History of Science houses the world's largest and most important collection of astrolabes. With ancient origins, the astrolabe illuminates astronomy, time-telling, astrology and religion across cultures, time and place. This exhibition covers a thousand years, from the ninth century to the nineteenth and, to explore the themes of cosmos, destiny, faith, possession and imagination.

29 October 2005 – 12 March 2006

Astrolabes of Africa

Not only does North Africa have a strong tradition of making beautiful and ingenious astrolabes, the origins of the instrument may also be described as African. A small entrance gallery display to coincide with the Africa 05 festival.

12 July – 23 October 2005

Bye bye blackboard ... from Albert Einstein (preserved from his talk in Oxford)

Bye Bye Blackboard … from Einstein and others

This exhibition marks the centenary of the Special Theory of Relativity by inviting a number of well-known people in Britain today to chalk on blackboards the same size as Einstein’s. The result is an exhibition about science, art, celebrity and nostalgia. The blackboard is fast disappearing from meetings, classes and lectures: ‘bye-bye blackboard’.

16 April – 18 September 2005

Titan: a New World Explored

This exhibit, designed and organised by the students of the M.Sc. in History of Science: Instruments, Museums, Science, Technology, traces the history of observations of Saturn and especially its moon, Titan. On 1st July 2004, the Huygens probe flew through a gap in the thin outermost area of Saturn’s rings and achieved orbit, after a seven year voyage. It was the first spacecraft to ever orbit Saturn.

2004 – 2005

Drug Trade banner image featuring cherubs

Drug Trade: Therapy, pharmacy and commerce in early-modern Europe

This exhibition presents the fine collection of early drug jars at the Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford. These pharmacy jars, manufactured from the 16th to the 18th century, are presented along with printed herbals from the Museum’s library. Together, they are set in the context of the therapeutical practice of the time.

9 October 2004 – 13 March 2005

View of Matavai Bay, Tahiti from One Tree Hill, close to Fort Venus, the site from which Captain Cook observed the transit of Venus in 1769.

Transits of Venus

The Transit of Venus is a rare astronomical phenomenon in which the planet Venus passes across the face of the Sun. First observed by two English astronomers in 1639, it occurred only four more times before the current pair in 2004 and 2012. This exhibition is largely concerned with stories from the 18th Century, including Cook’s voyage to observe a transit in Tahiti in 1769.

13 April – 12 September 2004

Map showing global visibility of the transit of Venus, 1761

The Most Noble Problem in Nature

The Transit of Venus is a rare astronomical phenomenon in which the planet Venus passes across the face of the Sun. First observed by two English astronomers in 1639, it occurred only four more times before the current pair in 2004 and 2012. This exhibition is largely concerned with stories from the 18th Century, including Cook’s voyage to observe a transit in Tahiti in 1769.

13 April – 12 September 2004

Star Holder: The Lives of the Astrolabe

The astrolabe’s instructional value and its popularity were notably increased by the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in the mid-15th century. As a result of this invention, the instrument could be easily reproduced and diffused more widely in instructional publications. This made the astrolabe accessible to a much broader public.

Hilary Term 2004

print showing the Old Ashmolean building, used for Solomon's House exhibition

Solomon’s House in Oxford

An exhibition of archaeological finds discovered during building work in 1999. The title is a reminder of the programme of learning and improvement within which the building was first conceived; Francis Bacon’s vision of ‘Solomon’s House’ was as an institution for advancing natural knowledge and applying it for the benefit of humanity.

5 September 2000 – 8 December 2002

Susan Derges: Natural Magic

The Natural Magic exhibition was the outcome of Derges’s year-long art residency in Oxford, 2000-2001. The residency was part of the millennium celebrations for Year of the Artist.

11 October – 15 December 2001

Cosmographia: A Close Encounter

This Graduate Course Student Exhibition explores 16th century cartography set against the recent discovery of the New World.

Hilary Term 1999

Epact

Epact was a collaborative research project between four leading European museums: the Museo di Storia della Scienza in Florence, The British Museum, the Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, and the Museum of the History of Science. It resulted in a collaborative catalogue of instruments.

1997 – 1999