Scientist of the Day - Martinus van Marum

Linda Hall Library

Linda Hall Library

Linda Hall Library

Linda Hall Library

Linda Hall Library

Linda Hall Library

Martinus van Marum, a Dutch physical scientist, was born Mar. 20, 1750.  Van Marum was the founder of Teylers Museum in Haarlem in the Netherlands, which is still one of the most spectacular small science museums in the world, and we featured van Marum as our Scientist of the Day on his birthday three years ago.  We do so again because van Marum provided the theme image for our new exhibition, It’s Alive. Frankenstein at 200: The Science behind the Story.  Van Marum constructed an enormous static electrical generator that could produce very long sparks.  In his book, Beschryving eener ongemeen groote electrizeer-machine (Description of an Unusually Large Electrical Machine, 1785-87), he included one fold-out plate showing the electrostatic generator (second image), and another depicting a spark generated by that machine (first image).  The spark, evoking as it does the dramatic scenes of various Frankenstein movies, was chosen as the key motif for the exhibition, and it can be seen on all of the wall panels (third image).  In addition, our designer, Melissa Dehner, had 12 van Marum sparks cut out of aluminum; some of them hang from various ceiling locations (fourth image), sandwiched between styrofoam globes, while others decorate selected cases (fifth image).

The exhibition opened on Mar. 15, 2018, and it will be open to the public until Aug. 31, 2018.  The original spark plate from van Marum's book is on display, and his electrical machine is featured on one of the wall panels (sixth image).  The exhibition is well worth a visit.

Dr. William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.