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Science & Measurement Collection
Image: Microscope
Source: Museum Victoria
This diverse and selective collection represents significant aspects of Australian scientific research and applied science since the 19th century.
Significant items have been acquired directly from scientists or their institutions, including universities, government departments and the CSIRO. The collection also includes representative examples of laboratory equipment and scientific teaching and demonstration apparatus.
Apart from their scientific purpose, many items hold value as extraordinary examples of design and craftsmanship and as manifestations of the impact of science and technology on people's daily lives.
The collection particularly emphasises local scientific research and practical applications of science pertaining to the history of Victoria, but also includes objects from a broader history of science, such as objects from the Soviet and US space programs.
Significant items
- Scientific equipment developed by Australian scientists: Shephard Ruling Engine (1890s), Steele-Grant Microbalance (1909), Laby-Hercus apparatus for the determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat (1920s) and the first atomic absorption spectrophometer, developed by Alan Walsh at CSIRO (1952).
- Important examples of 19th and 20th century scientific equipment, including physics and chemistry laboratory equipment.
- Representative microscope collection, from Culpeper microscopes (1740s) to early electron microscope (1949).
- Astronomical equipment from the Melbourne Observatory (1860s-1946), including an eight-inch transit telescope (1884), and parts of the Great Melbourne Telescope (1868); associated archival material, photographs, and astronomical photographic plates.
- Original astronomical observations of Ernst Hartung.
- Primary weights and measures of Victoria from the 19th and 20th century, used for establishing standards and testing.
- Surveying equipment, including theodolites, telescopes and measuring rods used in the Geodetic Survey of Victoria (1858-72).
- Meteorological equipment, including items used in the Shackleton Antarctic expedition (1914-17).
- Equipment and personal effects from the exploration of Antarctica, from the early period (Shackleton 1907-09 and Rayner 1927-39) to the era of scientific exploration and establishment of permanent bases (1949-1960s).
See 'Collectors of Time', an essay on this collection from A Museum for the People: A history of Museum Victoria and its predecessor institutions 1854-2000.
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 1 - 10) 1633 items
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Digital Image - Portrait of Frederick Kemp, circa 1880
Portrait of Frederick Kemp, circa 1880. Kemp was assistant astronomer at Melbourne Observatory from 1873 to 1914.
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Digital Image - Portrait of Frederick Kemp, circa 1895
Portrait of Frederick Kemp, circa 1895. Kemp was assistant astronomer at Melbourne Observatory from 1873 to 1914.
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Photograph - The Old Melbourne Herbarium, Victoria, Feb 1935
Photograph of the old Melbourne Herbarium, by Rolf Baldwin, the son of the Government Astronomer, Joseph Baldwin, Feb 1935. The photograph was taken just prior to the demolition of the ...
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Digital Image - Poem on the Departure of Joseph Burley, Melbourne Observatory, 1890
Poem by W. J. Swan on the departure of Joseph Burley, Melbourne Observatory, 10 or 18 September 1890. Joseph Burley was a messenger and mechanical attendant at Melbourne Observatory fr ...
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Photograph - South Collimating Mark, Melbourne Observatory, South Yarra, Victoria, circa 1 ...
Small building housing the south collimating mark at Melbourne Observatory. The collimating mark was on the meridian line of the East Transit Telescope, and used to check the alignment ...
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Photograph - National Herbarium of Victoria, The Domain, South Yarra, Victoria, Jan 1935
Construction of the new building for the National Herbarium of Victoria, in the grounds of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. Photograph taken by Rolf Baldwin, son of the third Gove ...
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Photograph - S.Y. Aurora, Framed, 1911-1914
Framed black & white photograph of the ship, S. Y. Aurora, 1911-1914. This photograph was given to Robert Bage by Captain John King Davis, circa 1914. Davis was Captain of the Aurora an ...
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Negative - Vehicle at the Handing Over the Key Ceremony, Scienceworks, Spotswood, Victoria ...
One of twenty-eight 35mm colour negatives in seven strips (four negatives to a strip). The Key Ceremony was the day the Museum was officially handed the 'key' to the completed building ...
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Negative - Joan Kirner at the Handing Over the Key Ceremony, Scienceworks, Spotswood, Vict ...
One of twenty-eight 35mm colour negatives in seven strips (four negatives to a strip). The Key Ceremony was the day the Museum was officially handed the 'key' to the completed building ...
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Photograph - Macquarie Island Station, The Australian National Antarctic Research Expediti ...
Black and white image depicting the ANARE Station at Macquarie Island. It is one of a set of 12 black and white photographs of the Antarctic taken mostly in the 1950s and 1960s showing ...
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