"Scale..." in the Media
Eye on the Cosmos, Harvard Magazine, Nov/Dec 2017
"Scale' tells the story of how, and what, we measure," Harvard Gazette, 4/18/17
“Scale: A Matter of Perspective” examines how scale stimulates mind, captivates imagination"
The Daily Free Press, Boston University, 3/16/17
Acknowledgements
CURATORIAL TEAM
Joyce Chaplin
James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History
Scott Chimileski
Post-doctoral Fellow, Kolter Lab, Harvard Medical School
Jean-Francois Gauvin
Director of Administration / Lecturer, Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
Pamela Gerardi
Director (Research & Collections, Development), Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology
Lisa Randall
Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science
Jan Sacco
Director of Exhibitions, Harvard Museums of Science & Culture
Sara J. Schechner
David P. Wheatland Curator, Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
300th Anniversary University Professor
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HMSC EXHIBITION TEAM
Sylvie Laborde (Project Manager & Senior Designer)
Jennifer Berglund
Don Bissex
Tony Greaney
Bill McCann
Tristan Rocher
James Skatges
TELESCOPE RESTORATION & ENGINEERING
Kenneth J. Launie
Edmund Puches
SUPPORT GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY
David P. Wheatland Charitable Trust
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SPECIAL THANKS TO THE STAFF OF THE INSTITUTIONS WHO KINDLY LENT ITEMS AND OFFERED GUIDANCE
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute
Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
General Artemas Ward House Museum
Harvard College Observatory
Harvard Semitic Museum
Harvard University Herbaria
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Harvard Mineralogical & Geological Museum
Museum of Comparative Zoology
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Warren Anatomical Museum
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RECOGNITION OF THE UNSTINTING SUPPORT OF THE COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS
Peter Galison, Pellegrino University Professor and Faculty Director
Jean-François Gauvin, Administrative Director
Sara J. Schechner, David P. Wheatland Curator
Sara Frankel, Collections Manager and Registrar
Maureen Ton, Photographer and Designer
Michael Kelley, Technology and Applications Coordinator
Richard Wright, Curatorial Technician
Karen Woodward Massey, Financial Associate
Suzanne Sroka, Collection Management Assistant
Michael Grasso, Digital Content Designer
Kenneth Launie, Consulting Curatorial Engineer
Martha Richardson, Collections Manager Emerita
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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 those that scale things down (e.g., celestial and terrestrial globes, or ethnographic dioramas of village life), scale in literature (such as Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland), and social scale (Just how large was that crowd on the National Mall?).
The central focus object is the optics of the 125-year-old Bruce photographic telescope (right), recently discovered and restored. Accompanying the Bruce lenses will be astronomical photographs on glass plates taken in Peru that were annotated by Henrietta Leavitt, a “computer” at Harvard College Observatory, and her logbooks. Leavitt’s discovery of the period-luminosity relationship of Cepheid variable stars fundamentally altered our view of the scale of the universe. Scale: A Matter of Perspective examines the concept of scale and its power to transform perceptions of the universe and our place in it, inviting visitors to make connections to the world in surprising new ways.