Exhibit

There are many well known accounts of the history of visual science (some references are given below) but it seems hard to find a simple chronological listing of major events. Sometimes such a list can be helpful in gaining a quick historical perspective. This note presents a chronology listing 133 significant events between 1600 and 1960. In addition, for completeness sake, there is a brief preliminary section that sketches the history of visual science before 1600. All of this material is based on standard secondary sources: the author is not a specialist in the history of science, and the object here is not to contribute anything new to the history of vision research but rather simply to collate material already scattered throughout the literature--though of course the choice of "significant" events is idiosyncratic.

Few figures have had so decisive and fundamental an influence on the course of modern cultural history as Sigmund Freud. Yet few figures also have inspired such sustained controversy and intense debate. Freud's legacy continues to be hotly contested, as demonstrated by the controversy attracted by this exhibition even before its opening. Our notions of identity, memory, childhood, sexuality, and, most generally, of meaning have been shaped in relation to--and often in opposition to--Freud's work. The exhibition examines Freud's life and his key ideas and their effect upon the twentieth century.

Bedlam: Custody Care and Cure 1247-1997 at the Museum of London until 15 March 1998. This exhibition tells the fascinating 750-year-old story of Bethlem Royal Hospital, popularly known as 'Bedlam'.

Bethlem is the world's oldest institution caring for people with mental disorders. It has been a part of London since 1247 and many people, rich and poor, have played a part in its history

I began compiling Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History as a source for a biography of Franklin. I gradually came to think that it had scholarly value of its own, though I still intend it to be the basic documentation for the biography. Since the Documentary History (DH) is arranged chronologically, the dates in the biography can be readily checked in the DH, where bibliographical references are given. The DH calendars but does not print Franklin's writings. It refers to The Papers of Benjamin Franklin far more frequently than to any other source, citing the Papers for the innumerable scholarly contributions made by that great edition. Since The Papers of Benjamin Franklin is also arranged chronologically, the date itself in the DH can serve as a reference to the Papers. For the user's convenience, however, the materials in the Papers are cited by volume and page in the DH. For example, the chronology begins with the birth of Josiah Franklin (BF's father) and cites the prefatory roman numeral pages 50-51 of volume one and the genealogial chart on roman numeral page 69. In those instances when a writing by Franklin is not in the Papers, the DH cites The Canon of Benjamin Franklin: New Attributions and Reconsiderations (Canon)and, if printed therein, Benjamin Franklin: Writings (W). Of course, a few new attributions occur in the DH; brief justifications for these are found in the DH and more detailed ones in the biography. The DH also lists Franklin's attendence and participation in the meetings of the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Union Fire Company, and other organizations, as well as references to Franklin in private letters and in the contemporary periodical press. Beginning with the appointment of Franklin and Meredith as Pennsylvania's official printers (30 Jan 1730), the DH records the meetings of the Pennsylvania Assembly because Franklin made sure to be in Philadelphia during the legislative sessions. Beginning with Franklin's election as clerk to the assembly (15 Oct 1736), the DH chronicles the most important assembly business because Franklin kept the minutes; and beginning with Franklin's election as a representative (9 May 1751), it includes brief discussions of most assembly sessions where Franklin played an active part.

He was the embodiment of pure intellect, the bumbling professor with the German accent, a comic cliché in a thousand films. Instantly recognizable, like Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp, Albert Einstein's shaggy-haired visage was as familiar to ordinary people as to the matrons who fluttered about him in salons from Berlin to Hollywood. Yet he was unfathomably profound — the genius among geniuses who discovered, merely by thinking about it, that the universe was not as it seemed.

Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany. He was the son of Hermann and Paulina Koch Einstein. When Einstein was five years old, his father showed him a pocket compass. Little boy genius was deeply impressed by the mysterious behavior of the compass needle, which kept pointing in the same direction no matter which way the compass was turned. He later said he felt then that "something deeply hidden had to be behind things."

Tycho Brahe was born on 14th December 1546 at the castle of Knutstorp in Scania
– which at that time was a province of Denmark. His parents, Otte Brahe and Beate Bille, belonged to the highest-ranked nobility in Denmark, and several of his relatives served the king as advisers and warriors. He was brought up by his paternal uncle Jörgen Brahe and his wife Inger Oxe at the castle of Tosterup. He spent much time with other relatives at the castle of Herrevadskloster.

The Zeiss II Planetarium Projector was the one and only planetarium projection system in service at The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania U.S.A.
It was the last Zeiss Mark II to be constructed. The Carl Zeiss Company did not produce Zeiss Mark III (all are upgraded Mark II projectors) or Mark IV projectors until well into the 1950s.
Buhl Planetarium's Zeiss II was the fifth major planetarium projector in the Americas. Earlier Zeiss II projectors were installed at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago in 1930, Fels Planetarium of Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in 1933, Griffith Observatory and Planetarium in Los Angeles in 1935, and the original Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1935

Albert Einstein is perhaps the most amazing scientific mind the world has ever seen. Few people (with the exception of Newton, Hawking, etc.) in the history of the world compare to his superior genius. Albert Einstein not only changed the scientific community forever, but changed every-day life as we know it.
Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany in March 14, 1879. He had a troubled childhood as most people know. From the time he was very young, he had a deep seeded interest in math and science. At times, he got so board with his schoolwork he stopped doing it and consequently failed math. Einstein's mathematics professor, Hermann Minkowski, got so angered with Albert's lack of interest in the class; he called Einstein a "lazy dog." From the time he was very young till his death, he would only study what he wanted to. When Einstein was in college, he often got upset because the Physics Professors only covered the "Old Physics" and Einstein wanted to learn about the "New Physics."

The Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) is a part of the Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics, University of Copenhagen, and shares premises in the city with the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (Nordita), which has programs in condensed matter and astrophysics in addition to the subjects listed below. Most experimental activity takes place at CERN, Brookhaven, and DESY as well as other facilities in Europe and overseas.
The NBI has a long tradition of international collaboration and is a meeting ground for scientists from all over the world. Short term visitors at the NBI number more than 150 per year, not including participants in the many symposia, workshops, and schools arranged each year. As a result, the NBI has the infrastructure needed to care for many foreign visitors and has a network of international contacts with the nearly 2000 physicists who have spent longer periods at the NBI and Nordita. The scientific staff at the NBI now comprises 25 permanent scientists, about 25 temporary scientists including long-term visitors, and 21 Ph.D. students.