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Description: | The collection includes material that has been in use in the University of Aberdeen, primarily for the purpose of teaching and research and was brought together by a distinguished line of past Professors of Natural Philosophy. Included amongst these are Patrick Copland, William Knight, James Clerk Maxwell, Charles Niven FRS, Nobel Prize winning GP Thomson FRS and RV Jones FRS. The earliest material dates from the mid 18th century. As a result of its continuity the collection provides an important material record which Aberdeen University Senior Lecturer Dr B Marsden describes as "charting the change in practical and popular scientific culture". The collection holds over 40 items connected to teaching and research in Magnetism. One of the earliest items is a magazine of 5 little horseshoe bars that matches the description Copland gives of an item he had that once belonged to Benjamin Franklin. Other items include assorted compass gifted to King's College before Japan and the West had formerly established relations, Earth inductors for measuring the Earth's magnetic field, geomagnetic research equipment and samples, electromagnets from the 19th and 20th centuries including one of the first superconducting magnets produced by Oxford Instruments. Another notable and unusual piece is Ewing's 19th century magnetic hysteresis curve tracer. The collection includes an example of Faraday's Rotating Magnets which show the "small scale rotary motion that could be obtained from electromagnetism" (Reid, 2004). This model was probably used by Professor William Knight "to illustrate electromagnetically induced rotation to his Natural Philosophy class at Marischal College" (Reid, 2004).
The Natural Philosophy collection is supported by an informative and detailed webpage which includes links to articles related to the collection, information pages for selected items and documentation for an exhibition 'Precisely' which featured the connections between the museum collection of Natural Philosophy and documentation held in the University's Special Libraries and Archives. Access to the collection is restricted and all enquiries should be sent to Dr J Reid, the Honorary Curator. Information compiled in consultation with the Honorary Curator.
Super collection: Natural Philosophy Collection.
Objects: Dr. Lorimer's dipping compass; azimuth compass; Box of heart shaped metals; Faraday's rotating magnet; pocket compass; iron cored electromagnet; Earth Inductor; magnetic pointer; pedestal; copper disc; magnetic needles; horseshoe magnet; toroidal electromagnet; galvanometer; superconducting magnet and power supply; Earth inductors; Magnetrons; Magnetic Stand; Flat spiral coil; apparatus for demonstrating the magnetic field produced by different shaped conductors; Japanese compass; McCulloch's mariner's compass; magnetic display; Curie-Cheneveau magnetic balance; hysteresis curve tracer. | Subjects: | Physics. History of Science | Temporal: | 1750 - 1993 | Source: | University of Aberdeen | Address: | King's College,
AB24 3FX | Identifier: | ABDNP:CLD05 | Relation: | ABDUA:CLD00 | Go to resource |
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