The Scientific Instrument Society (SIS) was formed in April 1983 to bring together people with a specialist interest in scientific instruments, ranging from precious antiques to electronic devices only recently out of production.

Collectors, the antiques trade, museum staff, professional historians and amateur enthusiasts will all find the varied activities of the Society suited to their tastes. We have a truly international membership offering those who join the chance to link up with instrument devotees across the world.

Joint Meeting with Society for the History of Astronomy

Saturday 18 July 2009 at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy the 2009 AGM will be held as part of a joint meeting with the Society for the History of Astronomy. Members will deliver papers of relevance and interest to both groups. There will be a key note lecture by Dr Allan Chapman of the University of Oxford on 'The history of the telescope from Harriot to Hubble'.

For more details of this event see our programme page

**Half Price Special offer to members of the Scientific Instrument Society**

The joint SIS/SHA meeting will follow directly on from a two-day public conference The Long View: 400 Years of the Telescope also taking place at the National Maritime Museum on Thursday 16 - Friday 17 July 2009.

The National Maritime Museum has generously offered all SIS members a place on the conference at the concessionary rate of £50.

• Eileen Reeves - Real fakes: pre-telescopic devices on the English stage
• Marvin Bolt - Towards a more diplomatic understanding: the techniques, materials, and politics of early 17th-century telescopes
• Frédérique Aït-Touati - Kepler’s technologies: optical fiction and telescopic observation
• Jennifer Downes - Hevelius’s Selenographia: using telescopes to explore and map the Moon in the 17th century
• Alexi Baker - The telescope’s tale: popular ownership of the instrument and its symbolism in early 18th-century London
• Timon Screech - Telescopes and metaphors of seeing in early modern Japan
• Patrick Parrinder - Beyond the telescope: the hypertelescopic imagination from Kepler to the 20th century
• Nicky Reeves - Disciplining materials and bodies: Nevil Maskelyne and the construction of the zenith sector
• John McAleer - Observatories, their telescopes and scientific ‘views’ of empire at the Cape of Good Hope, 1820–40
• Jon Agar - The place of the Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope reassessed
• Richard Dunn - Politics, progress and the pastoral: telescopes in modern film
• Isobel Hook - The world’s biggest optical telescopes, present and future

To book contact Janet Norton, Research Administrator, research@nmm.ac.uk
When booking, please confirm that you are a member of the Scientific Instrument Society.

Two Great Shows for Radio Enthusiasts in the United States

American members of the SIS, or those who see the world as one global village and can travel to the US, will be interested in two closely related events this Summer.

Radiofest which takes place near Chicago from 30 July-1 August is the largest radio show in the USA and includes a flea market, educational programmes, two auctions and a full programme of entertainment. Visitors to the fair may also wish to take the opportunity to visit the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum or the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. More details here (external website). Later in the month, from 20th-23rd August, the Antique Wireless Association Museum in Rochester, New York is hosting an international communications conference, again with opportunities to make visits, purchases and learn from the experts. Details here (external website), or click on the animated yellow banner advert on the right hand side of our homepage.

Call for next round of SIS grant applications

The Scientific Instrument Society awards small grants for research on the history of scientific instruments.

The grants are open to all applicants: both members and non-members may apply, and there is no geographical restriction. There are two calls each year and the next deadline is 1 September 2009.

The grants are worth up to £500 each, and the Society commits up to £1500 in a calendar year. Grants should enable new research, rather than funding activities to which the applicant is already committed. They may be used to cover any costs of research, including travel and photography; however the grants cannot be used to purchase equipment nor are they intended to support conference travel, unless there is a specific research dimension.

For further details and an online application form, visit here

Hold the Front Page! SIS Members can get between 10-20% discount on top history of science titles from Ashgate

We are pleased to announce a new facility for members of the Society. As a result of the Society placing advance quantity orders, members have been able to purchase books at very advantageous prices. In the past the publishing firm Ashgate has generously supplied many members with copies of 'Adams of Fleet Street' by John Millburn, 'Making Scientific Instruments in the Industrial Revolution' by Alison Morrison- Low and 'Jesse Ramsden' by Anita McConnell.

A further arrangement has now been made with Ashgate whereby other publications, not pre-ordered by the Society, may be purchased by members at specially discounted prices. A selection of books relevant to members' interests is listed on a special web site for Society members which has been set up by Ashgate here. Orders should be placed directly through this website using a special order code which will be mailed to members or can be obtained from the Society's Executive Officer. Full information is given in a flier accompanying the December Bulletin and there is a link from the Publications page on our own website.

It is intended to review and revise the list of selected books each year. In addition to the selected books listed on the web page, other works published by Ashgate may also purchased on line at discounted prices; for these see the main Ashgate web site.

The Society makes this arrangement on behalf of and for the benefit of members but it should be noted that all transactions are strictly between individual members and Ashgate. Postage costs are additional to the discounted prices.

Special offer for scientific instrument dealers

For further details of this great offer see our Dealers Page

All the Fun of the Fair

Come and visit the SIS stand at the Antique Science and Technology Fair held twice a year in London. This fair was founded by SIS member Peter Delehar and though it has changed ownership a number of times in the intervening years it remains under the direction of a consortium of enthusiastic dealers drawn from amongst the Society's ranks. At our stand you can meet committee members, join the SIS, purchase a Society tie/badge or Society publications including available back numbers of the Bulletin.

The 47th Antique Science and Technology Fair will be held on Sunday 18th October 2009, 10am-3pm, at the Holiday Inn, Coram Street, London WC1N 1HT.

For more details keep an eye on our Dealers Page.