SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS

By SARAH LEE

CONTENTS 1 ANDREA CORSINI AND THE CREATION OF THE MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN FLORENCE (1930–1961) 2 “NOT FOR THEIR BEAUTY”: INSTRUMENTS AND NARRATIVES AT THE SCIENCE MUSEUM, LONDON 3 “MORE ARTISTIC THAN SCIENTIFIC”: EXHIBITING INSTRUMENTS AS DECORATIVE ARTS IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM 4 “OF SUFFICIENT INTEREST , BUT NOT OF SUCH VALUE ”: 260 YEARS OF DISPLAYING SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM 5 INSTRUMENTS ON DISPLAY AT THE PARIS OBSERVATORY 6 LOOKING AT SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS ON DISPLAY AT THE UNITED STATES CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION OF 1876 7 PERMANENT DEMONSTRATIONS: THE SCIENCE TEACHING MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 8 THE DISPLAY OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY INSTRUMENTS AT HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY 9 SLIDE RULES ON DISPLAY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1840–2010 10 “EXCEEDINGLY RIDICULOUS”: TELESCOPES ON DISPLAY ON THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY STAGE 11 INSTRUMENTS ON MOVIE SETS: A CASE STUDY 12 DISPLAY OF INSTRUMENTS ON SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ASTRONOMICAL FRONTISPIECES CHAPTER ANDREA CORSINI AND THE CREATION OF THE MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN FLORENCE (1930–1961) INTRODUCTION THE CREATION OF THE INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN FLORENCE WAS DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF A SERIES OF CONTINGENT CIRCUMSTANCES DRIVEN BY THE STRONG-WILLED STRATEGY OF ONE MAN: ANDREA CORSINI (1875–1961) (FIG 1 1) AS SURPRISING AS IT MIGHT SEEM, THIS CURIOUS COMBINATION IS IN FACT QUITE TYPICAL IN THE HISTORY OF ITALIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE THOSE PASSIONATE ABOUT THE NATIONAL HERITAGE HAVE RARELY FOLLOWED A DELIBERATE AND LONG-TERM POLITICAL STRATEGY AND THEY HAVE RARELY BEEN ABLE TO FIND SUPPORT AND FUNDING FROM LOCAL OR NATIONAL AUTHORITIES THE RESCUE AND HIGHLIGHTING OF INVALUABLE COLLECTIONS, LIKE THE ONE PUT TOGETHER BY CORSINI BETWEEN 1925 AND 1961, ARE ALMOST MIRACULOUS AND THUS ONE MIGHT EXPECT THEM TO BE SHORT-LASTING THE CASE OF THE COLLECTIONS OF THE FLORENTINE MUSEUM FORTUNATELY TELLS A DIFFERENT STORY; THESE COLLECTIONS HAVE SEEN THREE GENERATIONS OF CURATORS AND DIRECTORS PROVIDING CONTINUITY, GROWTH * I WISH TO DEDICATE THE PRESENT STUDY TO THE MEMORY OF DANIELA CARRARA, LATE ARCHIVIST OF THE MUSEO GALILEO THE STUDY, WHICH WAS UNDERTAKEN AS PART OF THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF THE ISTITUTO E MUSEO DI STORIA DELLA SCIENZA, STEMS FROM RESEARCH ON MANUSCRIPT AND ICONOGRAPHIC MATERIAL FROM VARIOUS SOURCES, BUT PRINCIPALLY THE MUSEUM’S ARCHIVES SOME OF THE FINDINGS HAVE ALREADY BEEN PUBLISHED ON THE WEBSITE OF THE MUSEUM, IN THE VIRTUAL EXHIBITION MARCO BERETTA (ED ), MUSEO GALILEO 1930–2010, 2010, HTTP:// WWW MUSEOGALILEO IT/ISTITUTO/EN/INDEX HTML (ACCESSED 19 MARCH 2014) AN OPPORTUNE MOMENT TO UNDERTAKE THIS RESEARCH ARRIVED WITH THE DECISION TO REARRANGE THE HISTORICAL ARCHIVES OF THE MUSEUM AND THE CORRESPONDENCE OF CORSINI I WOULD LIKE TO THANK SILKE ACKERMANN, FRANCESCO BARRECA, DANIELA CARRARA†, RICHARD L KREMER, MARA MINIATI, PETER MORRIS, TOM SETTLE AND GIORGIO STRANO FOR FURNISHING ME WITH IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND MANY HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS I THANK SUSAN MESCHEL OF THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY OF CHICAGO FOR INFORMATION AND PHOTOGRAPHS RELATING TO THE MODELS PRESENTED AT THE INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION THE CENTURY OF PROGRESS HELD IN CHICAGO IN 1933 SPECIAL THANKS ARE EXTENDED TO CARLO MACCAGNI FOR HAVING PROVIDED ME WITH VALUABLE DATA ON PIETRO PAGNINI, ON THE HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM DURING THE 1950S AND 1960S, AND ON THE HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES IN ITALY GENERALLY DURING THIS PERIOD FIGURE 1 1 PHOTOGRAPH OF ANDREA CORSINI, TAKEN IN THE EARLY 1950S (PHOTOGRAPHIC LABORATORY AND ARCHIVE, MUSEO GALILEO, FLORENCE) AND EXPANSION THE PRESENT ESSAY EXPLORES THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND ITS CHANGING APPROACHES TOWARDS THE EXHIBITION OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS AND COLLECTIONS ANDREA CORSINI AFTER RECEIVING HIS DEGREE IN MEDICINE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORENCE IN 1899, ANDREA CORSINI BECAME THE ASSISTANT IN 1902 OF GIORGIO ROSTER AT THE CITY’S UFFICIO D’IGIENE HE REMAINED AT THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HYGIENE FOR HIS ENTIRE CAREER, BECOMING VICE-DIRECTOR IN 1906 AFTER EARNING FIRST PLACE IN A NATIONAL COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION IN 1928, HE WAS PROMOTED TO THE LEVEL OF MEDICAL DIRECTOR, THE HIGHEST GRADE IN THE MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION, FULFILLING HIS DUTIES IN THIS POSITION UNTIL HIS RETIREMENT IN 1953 1 ALONGSIDE HIS MEDICAL 1 MARIA LUISA BONELLI, “È MORTO ANDREA CORSINI”, LA NAZIONE, 25 JUNE 1961; LINO AGRIFOGLIO, “RICORDO DI ANDREA CORSINI”, CASTALIA 17, 3 (1961), PP 1–3; “IN MEMORIA DI ANDREA CORSINI NEL PRIMO ANNIVERSARIO DELLA SUA MORTE”, RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA MEDICINA 6 (1962), PP 3–10; VINCENZO CAPPELLETTI, FEDERICO DI TROCCHIO, “ANDREA CORSINI”, IN DIZIONARIO BIOGRAFICO DEGLI ITALIANI, ROME, 1960–: VOL 29 (1983), PP 606–609; LUIGI BELLONI, “COMMEMORAZIONE DI ANDREA CORSINI”, NUNCIUS 4 (1989), PP 177–190 ON CORSINI AND THE ORIGINS OF THE INSTITUTE AND PIKE'S ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF OPTICAL