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.

Curious: the craft of microscopy

'Curious: the craft of microscopy' is a temporary art exhibition by Susannah Edwards beng shown at the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Alongside her artwork there will be microscopes from the Science Museum collections on display, including Culpeper and Cuff microscopes, both signed. The exhibition is supported by Arts Council England and the Royal Microscopical Society. The exhibition runs from Tuesday 16 February 2010 until Saturday 3 July 2010. For more information see the Hunterian Museum website or the website of the artist.

Alongside the exhibition the Hunterian Museum is presenting a series of events for adults and families that reveal the connections between microscopy and medicine. 'The Lens of Life' programme will run from February to May 2010 and has been organised as part of the Royal Society's 350th anniversary celebrations. It will bring together medical museum curators, historians and surgeons to tell the stories of those whose work in microscopy has changed our understanding of medicine and disease. Starting with the opening of the Hunterian's new exhibition Curious: the art of microscopy there will be family workshops, free lunchtime lectures and tours of a number of medical museums elsewhere in London including the British Optical Association Museum and the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum as well as evening talks on Robert Hooke, Joseph Lister and the use of microscopy in the development of transplant surgery. The Vice Chairman of our Society, Neil Handley, is giving a lunchtime talk on Thursday 25th March on the Dollonds and microscopy. For more information and details of how to book for this or other events visit the Hunterian Museum website.

An Appeal - Please Help Run Your Society

The SIS Committee will require new blood to help carry the Society forward from the AGM in July. Nominations for committee need to be announced in the June Bulletin. Could you be the person we need? This year, in particular, we are especially keen to hear from any member with a business or accountancy background who would be willing to take over the role of Treasurer. In his time in this committee post Paul Goodman has worked very hard with our Executive officer, Peter Thomas, to oversee administrative and procedural changes that mean the job will now be an easy one for a successor to take on. Indeed, a competency with Excel spreadsheets is the only real requirement as the accounts are audited professionally. Please do consider this and make your interest known to Peter or the Chairman. Perhaps a collector of calculators or slide rules would enjoy crunching those numbers for us? We also need at least two other committee members and anyone interested should similarly contact either Peter Thomas or the Chairman. Even if at this stage you only want an exploratory chat, please do make your interest known to the Society. Finally we still require someone to take over the role of webmaster. This role, in particular, is one which our members who are based far from London - or even abroad - might consider. There are lots of you so please don't be backward in coming forwards!

Death of a true scholar

We were shocked to hear of the death on 3rd December of a stalwart of our society, Dr Brian Gee from Cornwall. Brian, who was just short of his 70th birthday, was well known to those who attended regular SIS events and was an authority on London opticians and scientific instrument makers, especially the Dollonds and their rival Francis Watkins. He was born in Yorkshire and taught physics in London, at the International School in Geneva and at the College of St Mark and St John (MarJon for short), a college of education which was then based in Chelsea but subsequently relocated to Plymouth. While he was still London Brian did an MSc in the History of Science at University College, and after moving to Plymouth he started a PhD on scientific instrument makers, part-time, with the University of Leicester. This work on scientific instruments and their makers was to become the enduring interest in his life, even after his early retirement from MarJon. For several years he was also a tutor for the Open University for some of science and physics courses. Brian saw very clearly the educational value of the history of science for all students of science, and also for introducing non-science students to the basic methodology and philosophy of science. To this end he was chiefly responsible for developing and introducing a few modules on what he called 'Scientific Culture Today' into the degree courses at MarJon, and it was Brian’s commitment to this course that help to carry his colleagues along with him and to see the documentation for these modules through all the internal committees and the external validating bodies. The course made use of Dr Jacob Bronowski’s videos on The Ascent of Man, and Brian firmly believed with Bronowski that; “Science was a tribute to what we can know, although we are fallible.” A true scholar and a gentleman, he will be sadly missed. (Biographical information supplied by Percy Seymour).

Weltenglanz - Dresden in Augsburg

Members may be interested to learn that highlights of the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, normally on display in Dresden, are currently on show at the Maximilian Museum in Augsburg. The Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon is among the oldest collections of historic scientific instruments worldwide and its staff have been very active in the Scientific Instrument Society for many years. While the Salon's wing in the Zwinger, its home for more than two and a half centuries, is closed for renovation, a selection of some 70 of the museum's finest objects has been sent to Augsburg. Many of these - works by makers such as Christoph Schissler and Georg Friedrich Brander - stem from Augsburg, and a number of the earliest pieces were acquired there personally by Elector August of Saxony in the 16th century. They are now returning to southern Germany for the first time in four centuries and being shown beside their Augsburg counterparts. The exhibition 'Weltenglanz' is on display until February 14th 2010. A fully illustrated catalogue (in German) has been published by Deutscher Kunstverlag (Berlin/Munich, ISBN 9783422069422).

Could you be our next webmaster?

The Society is looking for one of its members to take over the regular maintenance and updating of www.sis.org.uk in succession to Neil Handley who is stepping down in order to concentrate on a book project. The role does not have to be a committee post and could just as easily be performed by a member outside of London. Indeed it could be an ideal opportunity for an 'overseas' member to make a contribution from afar.

The site moved to a new host server in September of this year. By the start of 2010 the background architecture of the site will have been completely overhauled with the option to update the site via a content management system (CMS). Therefore, whilst some knowledge of html would be a distinct advantage it will no longer be necessary for our volunteer webmaster to edit the site directly from the source code and we hope this may encourage a different member to step forward. He or she will also have access, within reason, to technical support from our site's professional designer, David Cleworth. If you think you could pen a good news story, are meticulous, with an eye for detail, are good with processing digital images and can devote at least an hour per week, why not contact the current webmaster for more information?

Armillary sphere sells for a whopping price

James Hyslop reports...a 17th century Italian armillary sphere from Spain has just sold at Christies for a whopping £187,250. That's quite a result when set against the guide price which was (a by no means small) £30,000-£50,000 ($49,050-$81,750). All rings on the sphere were labelled in Latin with punched lettering, supported in the outer ring, divided 0°-90°-0°-90°, with punched numerals, an hour ring and s pointer to the top; the armillary was composed of two fixed meridian rings, equatorial, tropics and polar circles and a wider zodiac band which was divided on both inner and out surfaces. The outer surface was marked with engraved images for each house, whilst the inner rotating rings bore engraved image of sun and a crescent moon. The item stood 35.5cm (14inches) high on its tripod stand. The instrument was offered as part of the Manolo March Collection From Son Galcerán, Mallorca, sold in London on 28-29 October. Notably the sale was handled by the European Furniture, Decorative Objects and Early Sculpture department which may indicate a rival market to the scientific instrument collecting community when it comes to such items.

The armillary sphere is a demonstrational model of the universe. Composed of several rings (Armillae in Latin) and a band for the Zodiac, it represents the apparent movement of the celestial sphere around the Earth and marks the Sun's annual progress around the ecliptic. Their use can be traced back to antiquity and the handful of earliest extant examples date from the Middle Ages. But it was in the 16th and 17th centuries that their construction reached a peak and they became such iconic instruments of science. Elaborate and decorative examples were made for princely collections and they became symbolic of astronomy in paintings and engravings of the time. Find out more about Armillary Spheres in our A-Z of Scientific Instruments.

A Florentine delight - Dr Mara Miniati

In November the Society was delighted that Dr Mara Miniati agreed to deliver this year's Invitation Lecture to a packed room at the Society of Antiquaries and we certainly did not regret the invitation, such was the richness of the Medicean instruments shown on the lecture screen. From 1979 until her retirement in 2003, she worked at the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence (IMSS); from 1987 onward she was Vice-Director. She was also editor-in-chief of the journal Nuncius, previously named Annali delll'Istituto e Museo di storia della scienza di Firenze. The Festschrift 'Musa Musaei. Studies on Scientific Instruments and Collections in Honour of Mara Miniati' (edited by M. Beretta, P. Galluzzi and C. Triarico, and published in Florence in 2003) contains contributions by many friends and colleagues in and outside Italy. At present, Dr Miniati is emeritus curator of the IMSS and continues her researches in the field of ancient scientific instruments. The list of her published books and articles runs to 10 pages.

Hubble, Bubble... and Nearly Trouble

Key-note speaker Dr Allan Chapman was positively effervescent as he enthralled the large audience at July's joint meeting with the Society for the History of Astronomy. We ran overtime and were getting 'looks' from the venue staff, but only a fool would not have seen it through to the end as the learned and animated professor held forth without notes and at extended length on the complete history of the telescope from its probable use by a circle of astronomical enthusiasts in South Wales in 1609 to the decision of a 20th century lawyer to change career direction and start photographing nebulae. His name was Hubble and without the fateful decision of this hitherto amateur astronomer we might have had no Big Bang Theory and as for the space telescope, we'd have just had to call it after somebody else!

 
The picture, snatched quickly after the lecture had ended and before we were chucked out of the room, shows the two chairmen Patrick Mill (Scientific Instrument Society) and Gilbert Satterthwaite (Society for the History of Astronomy) flanking Dr Chapman. More details of the day, including details of the four member's talks are to be found on the appropriate programme page.

Committed To Your Society [UPDATED Nov 2009]

Meanwhile at the Society's AGM which took place on the same day, James Hyslop was elected to join the committee. James has experience in two of the key areas represented by our membership: the Heritage sector and the Auctions world. He has worked for the Whipple Museum of the History of the Science in Cambridge but is now a specialist in science and exploration for Christies the auctioneers in London. The third key area is that of the amateur collector or enthusiast and the first decision of the new committee was to co-opt Michael Stewart to help represent these members. In other changes Peter de Clercq stood down formally as Meetings Secretary (though he will remain on committee). In order to facilitate this within the terms of the constitution Neil Handley was elected to the revived position of Vice Chairman. Joyce Shaw takes over from him as Secretary.

In November your Committee also co-opted Nigel Parkinson to serve on it. Nigel is a science teacher and private collector from Oxfordshire. He will be well known to many members as a regular attender at our conferences, both at home and abroad. We look forward to his contribution.

Death of a loyal servant

We regret to announce the death of our Society's former Treasurer, John N. Didcock , FRGS, FRSA, on Friday 17th July 2009. Our former Chairman Stuart Talbot writes 'The Society received the benefit of his astute monetary guidance & planning and many long-term financial benefits accrued during his term of Office (1994-2001)'.

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 March 2010.

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

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 48th Antique Science and Technology Fair will be held on Sunday 18th April 2010, 10am-3pm, at the Holiday Inn, Coram Street, London WC1N 1HT. This new venue was judged to be a great success at the October fair.

For more details keep an eye on our Dealers Page.