Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments Programs

For children entering grades 6–8 How do we know what we know? What clever tricks and tools have people used through time to understand the world? And how would you convince others of a groundbreaking new idea? Dive into the whys and hows of sciences such...

Historians of science, as well as specialists in the fields of furniture, labor, politics, and clocks will gather for " Creating an Ordered World in Disordered Times: The Pope Orrery," a workshop to interpret the orrery from their diverse vantage points...

Free In-Person Event Take a closer look at Surveillance: From Vision to Data, On view at Harvard’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments starting 9/21/23. Join the curators for a talk focusing on select objects, the multiple legacies of...

Surveillance: From Vision to Data poses timely questions about the history of surveillance. The term surveillance may suggest images of high-tech cameras or George Orwell’s ever-watching Big Brother. But surveillance involves more than watching and being...

Curator Sara Schechner, from Harvard’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, and Lynette Roth, curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, will team up to explore a 120-year-old Zeiss photographic microscope. The curators will look at the assemblage...

Free In-Person Special Event After a long hiatus, the annual Summer Solstice Celebration at the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture is back—in person! Join us on the longest day of the year from 5:00–9:00 pm to explore—free of charge—the galleries and...

In this panel discussion, marking the opening of our online exhibition The Interpretation of Drawings: Freud and the Visual Origins of Psychoanalysis, noted Freud scholars explore the role of Freud’s drawings and art collection in the development of his...

Matthew H. Hersch, Associate Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space, following cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s mission three weeks earlier. With the United States trailing...

Join the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture on Sunday, June 20 for our virtual and bilingual (English-Spanish) Summer Solstice Celebration! Leer en Español At 11:00 am (ET), families and kids ages 4 to 14 are invited to hear a sun-inspired bilingual...

Free Virtual Panel Discussion Jay Haigler, Master Scuba Diver Trainer, Professional Association of Diving Instructors; Scientific Diver and Diving Safety Officer, National Association of Black Scuba Divers, Foundation; Board Member and Lead Instructor...