Early Modern (15th-18th Century)

Institute and Museum of History of Science

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://galileo.imss.firenze.it/

Author:

Institute and Museum of History of Science

Excerpt:

The Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza [IMSS] is one of the foremost international institutions in the History of Science, combining a noted museum of scientific instruments and an institute dedicated to the research, documentation and dissemination of the history of science in the broadest senses.

The museum, the specialized library, the archives, the multimedia, photographic and restoration laboratories provide an integrated whole in the service of disseminating scientific culture, capitalizing on Italy's technical/scientific heritage, while continuously updating research in the history of science and technology

Annotation:

This site is an online catalogue for one of the most famous science museums in Europe, located in Florence. Its collections are mostly from the early modern period (roughly 1500-1800), with a particular emphasis on Galileo, his inventions and related materials from his lifetime. A room-by-room map of the museum allows visitors to view dozens of drawings, paintings and photographs of early astronomical, medical, mathematical, chemical and engineering instruments. There is also a virtual video tour of the Galileo room and accompanying photographs of his telescopes and other memorabilia. The site is written in non-technical bilingual form (English and Italian). Short biographies of important early modern Italian scientists and a multitude of links to other history of science and technology sites in many languages are included.

Iconographic Archives

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.cis.unibo.it/icon/home.html

Author:

University of Bologna

Excerpt:

The Iconographic Archives (IA) set up by CIS illustrate the history of science and technology at the University of Bologna from the Middle-Ages to the twentieth century. The IA include 700 colour and b/w images with captions. Captions contain information about the artifacts, people and places represented as well as the location, author and date of the originals.

Annotation:

The Iconographic Archives are a project of the University of Bologna's International Centre for the History of Universities and Science (CIS). The Archives are an online repository for images of people, artifacts, and places with corresponding descriptions and location information. The University, founded in 1088, has a long history as a center for scientific scholarship, and these images reflect this relationship. Though the CIS site is available in English, the archival information is in Italian, requiring some knowledge of the language to utilize the search functions. Searches can be made by year to circumvent this. Unfortunately, there also is no way to browse the images without using the search tool.

East Asian History of Science Library

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.nri.org.uk/

Author:

Needham Research Institute

Excerpt:

The Needham Research Institute is the home of the Science and Civilisation in China Project, and houses the East Asian History of Science Library. As a recognised global centre of study, the NRI offers a unique collection of books and other published materials on the history of science, technology and medicine in East Asia, and welcomes scholars from all over the world.

Annotation:

Online presence for the Institute which collects scientific, medical, and technological material related to East Asia. The site contains links to the library catalog as well as a catalog of the archive Dr. Joseph Needham's documents located at the Cambridge University Library.

University of Bologna - Department of Astronomy Archives

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.bo.astro.it/dip/Library/archives.html

Author:

University of Bologna

Excerpt:

Close to the library are the archives, a small collection of letters, meteorological and astronomical observations, papers and drawings related to the scientific and administrative life of the Bologna Observatory. The earliest documents date back to 1696, when a group of astronomers, lead by Eustachio Manfredi, planned the creation of an astronomical institute and the building of the tower. A reorganization of the archives is in progress, in order to give electronic access to documents, but saving the original structure of the archives itself.

Annotation:

Listing of the holdings of the Department of Astronomy Archives at the University of Bologna. Site in English, but listings are in Italian.

AIP-Center for History of Physics

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.aip.org/history/

Author:

American Institute of Physics

Excerpt:

Marie Sklodowska Curie opened up the science of radioactivity. She is best known as the discoverer of the radioactive elements polonium and radium and as the first person to win two Nobel prizes. For scientists and the public, her radium was a key to a basic change in our understanding of matter and energy. Her work not only influenced the development of fundamental science but also ushered in a new era in medical research and treatment.

Annotation:

The American Institute of Physics has combined exhibits with educational syllabi, and archives in this deep site. Included are exhibits about Madame Currie, Albert Einstein, the electron, the transistor and Werner Heisenberg and the Uncertainty Principle. Archives include thousands of digitized images in the Emilio Sagres visual archive, and the book and manuscript catalogue of the Neils Bohr library. The site also includes online syllabi and sample readings for history of physics teachers, information about accessing information at AIP, and online newsletters relating to the library and Center for History of Physics.

Caltech Archives Photonet

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://archives.caltech.edu//photoNet.html

Author:

California Institute of Technology Archives

Excerpt:

PhotoNet is an online database containing thousands of images from the Archives' collection of visual material.

Annotation:

This online database of over 3,000 images from the California Institute of Technology's archive of visual materials illustrates the history of science from the Scientific Revolution to the present. Photographs, fine prints, book illustrations, paintings, and architectural drawings of various scientists and their projects, including Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, George Ellery Hale, and Linus Pauling are found in the database. Images are accompanied by a brief (roughly 150-word) biography and, in many cases, a photograph or other image of the scientist(s) involved in the project. The site can be browsed through two sub-categories, "Science and Technological artifacts" and "Rare Books," as well as a keyword search by scientist name or subject. This site provides an ideal tool for research on the history of science and prominent scientific figures.

Latitude: The Art and Science of Fifteenth-Century Navigation

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~feegi/

Author:

Patricia Seed, Department of History, Rice University

Excerpt:

Latitude Changed Knowledge of the World.

Annotation:

Good site for children interested in learning about latitude, longitude, ships, compasses, and other topics related to nautical travel. Especially focuses on the progress made in navigation during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A variety of related links are also available.

MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/

Author:

John O'Connor and Edmund Robertson, School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, University of St. Andrews

Excerpt:

One of the commonest questions which the readers of this archive ask is: Who discovered zero? Why then have we not written an article on zero as one of the first in the archive? The reason is basically because of the difficulty of answering the question in a satisfactory form. If someone had come up with the concept of zero which everyone then saw as a brilliant innovation to enter mathematics from that time on, the question would have a satisfactory answer even if we did not know which genius invented it. The historical record, however, shows quite a different path towards the concept. Zero makes shadowy appearances only to vanish again almost as if mathematicians were searching for it yet did not recognise its fundamental significance even when they saw it.

Annotation:

The MacTutor Archive hosts thousands of biographical sketches of important mathematicians. Many of the biographies include links to documents and other materials related to mathematicans. Searches can be performed alphabetically or chronologically. In addition to the biographies, the site also includes a number of essays that are grouped by culture and topic. Thus the chronology of Pi or the history of zero can be found under "Arab Mathematics" and "Number Theory" among other categories. This is one of the most-linked to history of science sites on the web because it contains so much information.

19th Century Scientific American Online

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:19.

URL:

http://www.history.rochester.edu/Scientific_American/index.html

Author:

Electronic Historical Publications

Excerpt:

This month's inventor may look like a 19th century pirate. But you cannot judge this book by its cover. His invention was first, but Congress decided his invention was too important to be monopolized by a single man. One of our previous inventors, patented his invention a year after this month's inventor and his marketing skills beat out our mystery man

Annotation:

Snippets from the first two volumes of Scientific American magazine. Very little information available and what is is of a frivolous nature. Not for research. Site has not been updates since 1997.

Whole Cloth: Discovering Science and Technology Through American Textile History

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:18.

URL:

http://www.si.edu/lemelson/centerpieces/whole_cloth

Author:

Society for the History of Technology

Excerpt:

The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center was founded in 1995 at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, through a generous gift from the Lemelson Foundation. The Center's mission is to document, interpret, and disseminate information about invention and innovation, to encourage inventive creativity in young people, and to foster an appreciation for the central role invention and innovation play in the history of the United States.

Annotation:

This site, developed by the Society for the History of Technology, teaches the history of the production and consumption of textiles. Three completed "modular units," Early Industrialization, True Colors, and Synthetic Fibers, link the history of textile technology to issues of race and gender in American history. Five more units will be available soon. Web teaching materials include teacher and student essays, lesson plans, slide shows, videos, and documents. Other collaborators on the project include the National Science Foundation; the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution; and the Center for Children and Technology. The site is designed for middle and high school students and social studies teachers.