Past Exhibitions

This timely exhibit considers surveillance beyond the realm of cameras and their watchers, exposing the profound influence of data. Learn about the historical instruments that have been used to transform individuals and landscapes into data. Uncover how...

This exhibit features images and objects drawn from a variety of disciplines and time periods that show the importance of visual experiences in science. Images have played many roles in scientific research. Images can record fleeting observations, whether...

Measuring Difference Today, measurement is everywhere. We understand everything around us in inches, degrees, gallons, decibels, and more. But measurements are human inventions. It is through measures that we learn to see difference, to compare the world...

Several decades ago, philosopher of science Ian Hacking argued that experimental physics provided the strongest evidence of scientific realism. He stated that unobservable "experimental entities," such as electrons, are manipulated every day in...

Based on the award-winning masters’ thesis work of architect Francesca Liuni, Syntax of an Astrolabe seeks to demonstrate the use of architecture as a tool for translating the sometimes hidden language of exhibitions. The constructions built for this...

The inspirational source for this exhibit is Jonathan Sterne’s* The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction (2003). With this study, Sterne seeks to challenge the “visual hegemony” of sight as the sense of rationality in the West, by telling...

Scale: A Matter of Perspective explored the concept of scale from multiple perspectives, including investigation of the cosmos with telescopes and microscopes, models that scale things up (e.g., molecular models, glass flowers, embryological models) and...

The microscope of a literary legend. An illustration of a cannibalistic fish in the middle of his supper. The nose cone of a missile given as a Valentine's Day gift. On display, these objects and many more curiosities seem completely disparate, but their...

This intriguing exhibition explored both the biological underpinnings of human navigation and its technological history, from the sea-faring cultures of the southern Pacific to early European mariners. Compelling mounted specimens from Harvard’s Museum of...