The "Museo Galileo. Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza" and the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica are very pleased to host the XXIX Symposium of the Scientific Instrument Commission of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science (Division History of Science and Technology) in October 2010. The Symposium is open to anyone interested in the history, preservation, documentation of use of scientific instruments. Scholars, curators, collectors are welcomed and students are especially encouraged to attend.

Sponsored and organized by: Museo Galileo, Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica

Scientific committee: Paolo Brenni, Sara Schechner, Giorgio Strano, Anna Giatti

Organizing committee:  Laura Manetti, Giulia Fiorenzoli, Elisa Bonaiuti

VENUES  - On Monday, October 4, the registration, the opening lecture, and welcome drinks will be hosted by the Biblioteca degli Uffizi, Piazzale degli Uffizi. The symposium sessions will be held in the Palazzo Strozzi, Piazza Strozzi 1 and the Museo Galileo, Piazza dei Giudici 1.

THEME - The primary theme for the conference will be "Instruments on display". We encourage you to submit papers about how instruments have been presented in scientific collections, museums and permanent and temporary exhibitions in past and more recent time. Did didactic, scientific, celebrative, propagandistic and rhetorical considerations significantly influence the manner of displaying instruments? How were instruments presented in a Wunderkammer of the Renaissance, in a 18th-century cabinet or in a 19th-century exhibition? How and why are they shown in contemporary science museums? We hope that these and other questions will give rise to interesting papers and discussions at our meeting.

Proposals for papers, poster or sessions related to other topics are also welcomed.
Abstracts are to be submitted by June 1, 2010. 

PROGRAMME - http://www.imss.fi.it/news/sic/eprogramme.html

VISITS AND EXCURSIONS - The participants will have the opportunity to visit the newly renovated halls of the Museo Galileo, the recently restored 19th-century physics cabinet of the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica, as well as the Tribuna di Galileo, the wax anatomical cabinet and the recently refurbished astronomical tower of La Specola, the zoological section of the Florence Natural History Museum.
An excursion will be organized to Arezzo, where the participants will have the opportunity to visit the Museo dei Mezzi di Comunicazione as well as one of the most important Italian private collection of scientific instruments.

REGISTRATION AND HOTEL RESERVATION - Symposium registrations and hotel reservations are managed by Intertravel.
Please fill in the registration & accommodation form. We suggest you to book the hotel as soon as possible since Autumn is a very touristy season in Florence.

TRAVEL
By plane: you can choose to fly either to Florence or to Pisa, where you can find frequent train connections to Florence (about one-hour distance).
By train: Florence is on the main railroad line between Milan and Rome. The fast Frecciarossa train takes about 1h40 Rome to Florence and 2h10 Milan to Florence. Intertravel tour operators are at delegates disposal for travel arrangements and optional excursions (ph. +39 055 217936, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

For further information

Scientific committee: Paolo Brenni, Sara Schechner, Giorgio Strano, Anna Giatti
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Organizing committee: Elisa Bonaiuti, Giulia Fiorenzoli, Laura Manetti
ph. +39 055 265311
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

We look forward to seeing you in Florence in October!

See the web site  http://www.imss.fi.it/news/sic/index.html