Science Museum Group Journal Issue 8

Issue 08 is supersized. This is partly due to a rare collection of papers gathered under a Museums theme. These are authored by senior curators and museum directors (Dirk Van Delft, Peter Donhauser, Martha Fleming, Jennifer Landry and Robert Bud) who were involved in experimental responses to a perceived crisis in science museums at the turn of this century. In other articles, Charlotte Sleigh looks at the cultural history of the wireless through a work by science-fiction author E C Large, and Barry Murnane et al use a study of Dr Nelson’s Inhaler to explore the growth of inhalation therapy in the mid-nineteenth century. Meanwhile, Sophie Goggins et al return to museum practice by considering how museums display prosthetics. The issue also includes three articles by entrants to the Journal’s first annual writing competition for early career scholars: John Kannenberg, Joshua Butt, and Jean-Francois Fava-Verde. And it presents an experimental type of article – ‘Reflections on Research’ (see Tim Boon et al). But issue 08 starts and finishes with articles questioning the nature of modern scholarship and scholarly publication. In his Editorial, Justin Dillon considers what open-access journals can do to encourage generous scholarship, while the Journal'snew Reviews Editor, Geoff Belknap, asks what readers want from a modern reviews section.

Collection Details

Language

English

Now showing 1 - 10 of 16

Some of the metrics are blocked by your
consent settings
Museums theme – making Split + Splice: Fragments from the Age of Biomedicine
(2017-11-15)
Fleming, Martha
The wide-ranging personal experiences of medicine that people bring with them on their visits to medical museums arguably give medicine an advantage over the histories and material culture of other technologies and sciences. No other science has ‘content’ that is held quite so deeply inside the visitor’s conscious substance and psyche. But if mis-handled through sensationalism, this can easily backfire, catapulting the visitor into a state of fear and abjection. This article outlines a sustained and award-winning temporary exhibition project that aimed to engage visitors by locating them in the engine room of biomedicine rather than the operating theatre. Four post-doctoral historians of contemporary medicine and a creative director worked together with exhibition designers in a research context to show how epistemology can be dovetailed with aesthetics to bring theory and practice together for a wider public at Medical Museion, Copenhagen.
Some of the metrics are blocked by your
consent settings
‘Great ease and simplicity of action’: Dr Nelson’s Inhaler and the origins of modern inhalation therapy
(2017-11-15)
Murnane, Barry
;
Murnane, Darragh
;
Sanders, Mark
;
Snell, Noel
Unveiled at the conclusion of a meeting of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society in 1861, ‘Dr Nelson’s Improved Inhaler’ was one of the most important milestones in the genesis of reliable treatment of respiratory ailments in the modern era. Affordable and suitable for self-medication, the Dr Nelson’s Inhaler offered simple and reliable relief for patients with respiratory and pulmonary ailments. Conspicuous for its modesty and simplicity, it was one of the most widely produced, reproduced, and used inhalation devices in the final third of the nineteenth century. By reconstructing the ‘biography’ of the Nelson Inhaler, this article will attempt to sketch a network of medical and commercial interests and expertise in London which aligned in the 1860s to help establish inhalation as a popular, inexpensive, and trusted form of medical therapy for pulmonary ailments. This article will look at what connects physicians, apothecaries, and patients in the era: the medicines and technologies that were prescribed, made, bought, and which caused wellness, side-effects, and even death. This approach allows us to develop a narrative of respiratory illness as it was experienced by practitioners and patients alike.
Some of the metrics are blocked by your
consent settings
A symposium on histories of use and tacit skills
(2017-11-15)
Boon, Tim
;
Kneebone, Roger
;
Heering, Peter
;
Staubermann, Klaus
;
Winkin, Yves
Some of the metrics are blocked by your
consent settings
A tale of two telegraphs: Cooke and Wheatstone’s differing visions of electric telegraphy
(2017-11-15)
Fava-Verde, Jean-Francois
This paper explores the early development of practical electric telegraphy in Britain during the nineteenth century. It exposes the two fundamentally different approaches to the design of telegraphic instruments specified in a joint patent between William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone in 1840. Cooke’s design was a relatively simple needle instrument that required skilled operators to transcode and transcribe the telegraphic despatches. Wheatstone’s design, on the other hand, relied on an innovative step-by-step (escapement) technology which was at the heart of a user-friendly, albeit more complex dial instrument that could be operated by any literate person. The deteriorating relationship between the two men during this period had a detrimental impact on the development of telegraphy. To prevent Wheatstone benefiting from the commercial venture that came to be known as the Electric Telegraph Company, which Cooke believed should be entirely his own, in 1845 Cooke acquired the full rights to the joint patent and subsequently ignored Wheatstone’s design, stifling in the process the development of the promising step-by-step technology. It would be another twelve years before Wheatstone resumed work on this technology and produced ultimately the ABC instrument – a dial telegraph that marked a milestone in the history of communication.
1 1
Some of the metrics are blocked by your
consent settings
Museums theme – Beyond the Black Box: reflections on building a history of chemistry museum
(2017-11-15)
Landry, Jennifer
This paper shows how the curatorial team of the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) dealt with institutional tensions in the process of creating a new museum within an existing institution. The initial desire to emphasise narrative evolved into an exhibition that was much more about structuring narratives around artefacts: ‘the two guiding principles were to structure the narratives around the artefacts and to emphasize the social context over the scientific or technical information.’ The importance of determining audience early in an exhibition project and allowing the audience decision to drive content decisions is explored. The paper emphasises, moreover, the need to satisfy several competing interest groups. It was important to maintain an objective distance from the chemical industry, normally assumed to be calling the shots in exhibits such as this, but also not to be so distanced from public expectations as to evoke the well-recalled wrath that had attended the Smithsonian exhibition, Science in American Life. The crisis in museums, as perceived by the team, was therefore an active factor both in provoking an approach to issues of social and technical impact and in warning of the limits.
2 1
Some of the metrics are blocked by your
consent settings
‘Not one voice speaking to many’: E C Large, wireless, and science fiction fans in the mid-twentieth century
(2017-11-15)
Sleigh, Charlotte
In this paper, E C Large’s 1956 novel Dawn in Andromeda is examined, using literary analysis, as a work of public history of science. The novel recounts how God places a pioneer population on a new planet, challenging them to work from nothing to the creation of a ‘seven-valve all-wave superhet wireless’ in a single generation. On a general level, this article presents Dawn in Andromeda as a history of science firmly rooted in the human and material efforts of engineering. As such, it is shown to chime more particularly with the hopeful definitions of science explored by wireless enthusiasts and the first generation of science fiction fans in Britain during the 1930s. However, the optimism of the 1930s is not borne out by the novel; ultimately, Dawn in Andromeda satirises the wireless as a form of corrupted science that did not deliver what the fans had hoped for.
Some of the metrics are blocked by your
consent settings
Museums theme – Science vs technology in a museum’s display: changes in the Vienna Museum of Technology with a focus on permanent and temporary exhibitions and new forms of science education
(2017-11-15)
Donhauser, Peter
This paper locates the development of a science and technology museum within the history of the predominantly object-based Vienna Museum, which was founded early in the twentieth century. It portrays interactive engagement with young people in terms of its continuity with the aim of popularising science, which had been a founding principle of the museum. At the same time, this paper examines the way in which the rise of interactivity represented a radical shift from an emphasis on technology itself towards a focus upon scientific principles, a phenomenon which in turn had an influence upon enquiry-based learning.
Some of the metrics are blocked by your
consent settings
Prosthetic limbs on display: from maker to user
(2017-11-15)
Goggins, Sophie
;
Phillipson, Tacye
;
Alberti, Samuel J M M
Prosthetic devices have been used in museums to tell clinical, technical and personal stories. Here we reflect on the ways artificial limbs and their users were represented in recent museum projects at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and at National Museums Scotland. We consider how these meaningful artefacts illuminate three overlapping themes in museum scholarship and practice: the representation of disabled people and disability in museums; reflections on conflict-acquired limb loss; and the presence or otherwise of user or patient voice in interpretation. In working with and representing people who design and wear prosthetics we advocate a balance between narratives of technique and of use.
Some of the metrics are blocked by your
consent settings
Editorial
(2017-11-15)
Dillon, Justin
Some of the metrics are blocked by your
consent settings
Museums theme – Quest for Absolute Zero: A Human Story about Rivalry and Cold
(2017-11-15)
Delft, Dirk van
In 2008 Rijksmuseum Boerhaave organised an exhibition on the occasion of the centennial of the liquefaction of helium by Kamerlingh Onnes in Leiden. Quest for Absolute Zero was the first major temporary exhibition aimed at new target groups. Therefore the focus was on the human scale and the colourful story behind the ‘man of Absolute Zero’. The fierce competition with James Dewar from the Royal Institution was also highlighted. The outcome of Quest for Absolute Zero was extremely positive for Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in terms of visitor numbers, media coverage, collaborations and side events. The project also proved to be a very useful lever for the renewal of the permanent exhibition, scheduled to open in December 2017.

Science Museum Group Journal Issue 8

Science Museum Group Journal Issue 8

Filters

Settings

Sort By

Results per page