Scale: A Matter of Perspective
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.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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
In 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
Telescope Restoration & Engineering
Kenneth J. Launie
Edmund Puches
Support Generously Provided By
David P. Wheatland Charitable Trust
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
March 10 through December 10, 2017