Archive · Museums · Science · Saint Petersburg

Academicians' round table passed from the Academy Library to the museum on Vavilov's order

All the scientific institutions of the Academy of Sciences were born in the Kunstkamera. And in its very centre, in the circular hall, stands what is perhaps the key exhibit: the round table at which the academicians sat in session. It came to the museum from the Manuscripts Department of

Museums · Observations · Science · Saint Petersburg

The Lomonosov Museum in the Kunstkamera, conceived by Vavilov in 1938 and created by 1949

My favourite part of the Kunstkamera is the Lomonosov Museum. The collection of objects connected with the life of the great scholar and with his age is housed in the tower in the central part of the building, which was restored to its historical appearance only in the 1940s, almost

Archaeology · Science · Palaeontology · Humour

Skeleton of a giant found in Dauphiné in 1613 proved to be the bones of a Deinotherium

In 1613, the skeleton of a giant was discovered in the French province of Dauphiné. The coins found in the burial and the inscription Teutobochus Rex indicated that this was the grave of the Teutonic chieftain Teutobod, famed for his colossal size. True, when the Christian theologian of the 5th

Faith · Science · People

Nicolas Malebranche and the idea that all generations are contained in the mother's egg

In the reasoning of the French monk and, strange to say, philosopher Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715), the idea of preformation is presented with some interest. Malebranche held that every living creature is, from the very beginning, contained in the egg of its mother. In the embryo of a tulip bulb

Archive · Science · Humour

Homunculus in a spermatozoon in a 1695 drawing and the first microscopic observations of sperm

This drawing of 1695 shows a spermatozoon. Inside the spermatozoon, in case you did not know, sits a little man, who makes his way into the womb and begins to grow until he becomes an infant. So, at any rate, the mathematician Nicolaas Hartsoeker saw it, peering at semen through

Art · London · Museums · Observations · Science · Humour

To everyone who fears dentists as much as I do, or perhaps even more, I recommend pondering the simple subject of this sculpture of 1601 from the storerooms of the Science Museum in London

To everyone who fears dentists as much as I do, or perhaps even more, I recommend pondering the simple subject of this sculpture of 1601 from the storerooms of the Science Museum in London. In those days the extraction of teeth was an exceedingly painful operation, conducted almost without anaesthetic:

Observations · Science · Education

Thomson's cathode ray tube experiment and the discovery of the electron in 1897

Thomson's tube is a glass vacuum vessel which the English scientist Joseph Thomson used in his experiment on the properties of cathode rays. In my day this was covered in the school physics course, and attention was usually drawn to the fact that the cathode-ray tubes of

Archaeology · Museums · Science · People

Kranz's skeleton displayed with his dogs at the Museum of Natural History as he requested

The renowned Bigfoot and ancient hominid researcher, cryptozoologist, anthropologist, evolutionist, university lecturer, writer and simply a most original man, Grover Krantz, bequeathed his body to science. Krantz, who was seventy and dying of cancer, approached his colleague David Hunt, an anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution, shortly before his death, asking

Science · Mores · People · Humour

Anecdote about the mineralogist Alexander Ushakov, who as a juror acquitted every defendant

There is an anecdote about the nineteenth-century Russian writer and mineralogist Alexander Pavlovich Ushakov. Ushakov was the kindest of men, wrote several important works on mineralogy and was reputed a connoisseur of the stage and the ballet. But he held rather original principles, calling idiots all who did not

Museums · Science · Education · People

The embalmed head of surgeon Antonio Scarpa in the University of Pavia museum

An anatomist's head is precisely what one expects to find in a museum of science. Antonio Scarpa, the foremost surgeon of his day, left behind neither lawful heirs nor any well-wishers after death, and in the absence of a last will his assistant took it upon himself

Observations · Science · Education · People

Medievalist historian Natalia Basovskaya, head of an RSUH department, has died

Natalia Ivanovna Basovskaya, medievalist, popularizer of science, author of many books and a wonderful human being, has passed away. Until her last years Natalia Ivanovna headed our department at RSUH. Students and teachers held her in great respect and, I shall not be afraid to say, admiration. Her learning, her

Monarchies · Science · Education · People

Angélique du Coudray built the first obstetric mannequin and trained women across France

The first obstetric mannequin was designed by Angélique Du Coudray, celebrated for her book on the fundamentals of midwifery and her vast experience of training young midwives. Under the influence of Du Coudray and her petition, the decision to deny women professional training in obstetrics was reversed. After this success,