Showing posts with label UL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UL. Show all posts
Friday, September 07, 2018
UL exhibition - An age of Discoveries: 250 Years since the Endeavour Voyage to the Pacific
A display of key manuscripts and books relating
to the voyage of James Cook, Joseph Banks, Sydney Parkinson and others
to the Pacific in 1768 is now on show in the main entrance hall of the
University Library. Curated by Edwin Rose, a Ph.D. student in
HPS. More information can be found here.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
2018 Sandars Lectures - 'Chemical Attractions'
By Dr Peter Wothers, Director of Studies in Chemistry at Cambridge.
Held on the 6th, 7th and 8th of March in St Catherine’s College.
Lecture 1; 6th March.
The first lecture looks at how a young teenager first became addicted to collecting antique books on chemistry over 30 years ago. We will look at some of the very first ‘rare’ books purchased, and exactly what the attraction of them was. We will explore some of the other great chemical libraries formed in the past, and their different ‘flavours’ and strengths. We will also discuss how book collecting has changed over the past 30 years, during the age of the internet – a resource not available to the great collectors of the past. Some of the treasures stumbled across during the time collecting will be exhibited and discussed, including a possibly unique broadsheet summarizing one of the first text books of modern chemistry from the beginning of the 17th century.
Lecture 2; 7th March
This second lecture looks at some of the key chemical texts from the 18th century, when modern chemistry really began. We look at how an understanding of the air and the different gases it contains prompted a revolution in chemistry with the introduction of a new nomenclature which is still used today. We look at some of the key texts by authors such as Cavendish, Priestley, Scheele and Lavoisier and how the modern theory and language developed. We will also see how a chance acquisition of an additional item thrown in with a main lot in an auction led to the identification and purchase of an important piece of scientific apparatus. The lecture will include a couple of explosive chemical demonstrations!
Lecture 3; 8th March
In this third and final lecture, we look at some of the earliest books written by women chemists, prior to Madame Curie. Particularly important is Elizabeth Fulhame’s book from 1794: An essay on combustion, with a view to a new art of dying and painting. Also examined are the immensely influential and utterly delightful editions of Jane Marcet’s Conversations on Chemistry published between 1806 and 1853. This book takes the form of informal dialogues, or conversations, between the teacher, Mrs Bryan, and her two young students, Caroline and Emily. We will also look at other books written for younger audiences and some of the dangerous experiments they encouraged their readers to try out.
Further information here.
Held on the 6th, 7th and 8th of March in St Catherine’s College.
Lecture 1; 6th March.
The first lecture looks at how a young teenager first became addicted to collecting antique books on chemistry over 30 years ago. We will look at some of the very first ‘rare’ books purchased, and exactly what the attraction of them was. We will explore some of the other great chemical libraries formed in the past, and their different ‘flavours’ and strengths. We will also discuss how book collecting has changed over the past 30 years, during the age of the internet – a resource not available to the great collectors of the past. Some of the treasures stumbled across during the time collecting will be exhibited and discussed, including a possibly unique broadsheet summarizing one of the first text books of modern chemistry from the beginning of the 17th century.
Lecture 2; 7th March
This second lecture looks at some of the key chemical texts from the 18th century, when modern chemistry really began. We look at how an understanding of the air and the different gases it contains prompted a revolution in chemistry with the introduction of a new nomenclature which is still used today. We look at some of the key texts by authors such as Cavendish, Priestley, Scheele and Lavoisier and how the modern theory and language developed. We will also see how a chance acquisition of an additional item thrown in with a main lot in an auction led to the identification and purchase of an important piece of scientific apparatus. The lecture will include a couple of explosive chemical demonstrations!
Lecture 3; 8th March
In this third and final lecture, we look at some of the earliest books written by women chemists, prior to Madame Curie. Particularly important is Elizabeth Fulhame’s book from 1794: An essay on combustion, with a view to a new art of dying and painting. Also examined are the immensely influential and utterly delightful editions of Jane Marcet’s Conversations on Chemistry published between 1806 and 1853. This book takes the form of informal dialogues, or conversations, between the teacher, Mrs Bryan, and her two young students, Caroline and Emily. We will also look at other books written for younger audiences and some of the dangerous experiments they encouraged their readers to try out.
Further information here.
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Landscapes Below Speaker Series
Milstein Seminar Rooms, University Library
Thursday 25 January, 17.30-18.30
THE WONDERS OF THE PEAK: EIGHTEENTH CENTURY GEO-TOURISM IN DERBYSHIRE
Anna Rhodes, Collections Officer at Buxton Museum & Art Gallery
In 1636 Thomas Hobbes published his topographical and satirical poem The Wonders of the Peak. This popular verse described visiting some of Derbyshire's geological wonders, including limestone caverns and natural wells. Hobbes' poem publicised this landscape and by the eighteenth century, these sites were teeming with visitors. Descriptions and engravings of the sites were published in magazines and they attracted artists including Joseph Farrington, Philip James De Loutherbourg and William Gilpin. This talk explores how these geological 'wonders' were represented on both paper and canvas in the eighteenth-century. It draws on many unpublished travel journals, examining how the visitors engaged with the geological landscape. These often sensationalised descriptions, written by both men and women contain tales of perilous adventure, eerie visions into other worlds and the stirrings of modern geology.
Further information, and a link to book tickets, here.
Future events:
All details and booking information can be found here.
Thursday 25 January, 17.30-18.30
THE WONDERS OF THE PEAK: EIGHTEENTH CENTURY GEO-TOURISM IN DERBYSHIRE
Anna Rhodes, Collections Officer at Buxton Museum & Art Gallery
In 1636 Thomas Hobbes published his topographical and satirical poem The Wonders of the Peak. This popular verse described visiting some of Derbyshire's geological wonders, including limestone caverns and natural wells. Hobbes' poem publicised this landscape and by the eighteenth century, these sites were teeming with visitors. Descriptions and engravings of the sites were published in magazines and they attracted artists including Joseph Farrington, Philip James De Loutherbourg and William Gilpin. This talk explores how these geological 'wonders' were represented on both paper and canvas in the eighteenth-century. It draws on many unpublished travel journals, examining how the visitors engaged with the geological landscape. These often sensationalised descriptions, written by both men and women contain tales of perilous adventure, eerie visions into other worlds and the stirrings of modern geology.
Further information, and a link to book tickets, here.
Future events:
- 'The Role of Women in the History of Geology' - Tuesday 20 February
- 'George Cumberland, fossil collecting and landscape painting in early 19th century Bristol' - Thursday 22 March
All details and booking information can be found here.
Monday, November 27, 2017
UL exhibition: Landscapes Below: Mapping and the New Science of Geology
A new, fascinating exhibition on mapping and geology by Allison
Ksiazkiewicz (who completed her MPhil and PhD in HPS) at the University
Library. See here for a good overview, and sign up here for special tours of the exhibition led by Allison.
The exhibition runs from November 25, 2017 to March 29, 2018 at Cambridge University Library's Milstein Exhibition Centre. Admission is free. Opening times are Mon-Fri 9am-6pm and Saturday 9am-16.30pm. Closed Sundays.
The exhibition runs from November 25, 2017 to March 29, 2018 at Cambridge University Library's Milstein Exhibition Centre. Admission is free. Opening times are Mon-Fri 9am-6pm and Saturday 9am-16.30pm. Closed Sundays.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)