Singular Beauty: Simple Microscopes from the Giordano Collection

Simple microscopes - the portable single-lens instruments invented in the seventeenth century and made famous by naturalists such as Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Carl Linnaeus and Charles Darwin - are the subject of this exhibition.

The exhibition features 127 simple microscopes from the private collection of Raymond V. Giordano, along with rare books on microscopy and optics from the Linda Hall Library. The rare books show designs and give instructions on how to use some of the very microscopes included in the Giordano Collection. Most of the instruments are tiny, some less than an inch across, and even the largest can be easily carried. These elegant tools are made of wood, silver, brass, ivory, horn and glass.

This exhibition is presented in cooperation with the MIT Museum, where the Giordano Collection was displayed in 2006-2007. After the exhibition closes in September, the Giordano Collection will be permanently relocated to Le Musée des Confluences in Lyon, France.

Singular Beauty in the News

KMBC-TV News Feature on Singular Beauty - April 29th 2009 (Windows Media File)

Exhibition made possible with generous support from Thomas F. Peterson Jr. and Raymond V. Giordano, and with assistance from the MIT Museum and Musée des Confluences.

The Grandeur of Life:
A Celebration of Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species.

Opening October 1, 2009

The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species. Charles Darwin was not the first naturalist to wonder where species came from, and how species are related to each other. Earlier students of nature, looking for “the order of things,” called their books “The History of Animals,” “The Botanic Garden,” “The Animal Kingdom,” “The Temple of Flora,” “Zoological Philosophy,” and “The System of Nature”.

Although the importance of these books lies in their attempts to identify and classify living things, many have the added attraction of being quite beautiful, with exquisite and often hand-colored images of animals, plants, and fossils.

In celebration of the Darwin anniversaries, the Linda Hall Library will display fifty of the most significant and the most visually impressive of these books, culminating with a first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

Online Exhibitions

Paper Dinosaurs 1824-1969 (NEW!)

Ice: A Victorian Romance

Napoleon and the Scientific Expedition to Egypt

Women's Work: Portraits of 12 Scientific Illustrators from the 17th to the 21st Century

Vulcan's Forge and Fingal's Cave

Voyages: Scientific Circumnavigations 1679-1859

Centuries of Civil Engineering

The Year 1000: A Legacy of Science and Technology

Out of this World: The Golden Age of the Celestial Atlas

The Face of the Moon: Galileo to Apollo

William N. Deramus III Cosmology Theater

ViewSpace

The William N. Deramus III Cosmology Theater features ViewSpace, a program of the Space Telescope Science Institute, on a 114-inch display screen with a 1080i High Definition projection system.The theater currently features the ViewSpace program of the Space Telescope Science Institute. ViewSpace presents a series of educational features on topics related to space and space-based research. Most presentations are of ten minutes duration.

Other segments showcase scientific discoveries related to our planet and its environment. These show spectacular views of Earth events such as hurricanes, floods, and forest fires. Also available are segments which provide information on where to look in the night sky to see planets, constellations, meteor showers and other events visible during the current month.

Regular coverage is given to the latest discoveries made with the Hubble Space Telescope and other astronomical resources from around and above the world. ViewSpace presents a series of educational and inspiring short features (most ten minutes or less)