Bill Robie. For the Greatest Achievement: A History of the Aero Club of America and the National Aeronautic Association. Foreword by Chuck Yeager. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. 1993. Pp. xix, 378. $35.00

1994 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Smithsonian Institution ◽  
National Aeronautic ◽  
History Of

What is a scientific instrument, now?

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liba Taub
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Smithsonian Institution ◽  
Scientific Instrument ◽  
Scientific Instruments ◽  
Classic Article ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of

Abstract In 1990, Deborah Jean Warner, a curator at the Smithsonian Institution, published her now-classic article ‘What is a scientific instrument, when did it become one, and why?’. These questions were prompted by practical curatorial considerations: what was she supposed to collect for her museum? Today, we are still considering questions of what we collect for the future, why, and how. These questions have elicited some new and perhaps surprising answers since the publication of Warner’s article, sometimes – but not only – as a reflection of changing technologies and laboratory practices, and also as a result of changes in those disciplines that study science, including history of science and philosophy of science. In focusing attention on meanings associated with scientific instrument collections, and thinking about what objects are identified as scientific instruments, I consider how definitions of instruments influence what is collected and preserved.

A NATIONAL COLLECTION OF MATERIAL RELATED TO THE HISTORY OF PREMATURE INFANT CARE

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 762-762
Author(s):  
Audrey B. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Consumption ◽  
Perinatal Care ◽  
Smithsonian Institution ◽  
Patient Records ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Hospital Records ◽  
History Of ◽  
Care Technology ◽  
Private Collections ◽  
National Effort

An effort is under way to establish a collection of materials which will trace the development of perinatal-care technology in The National Museum of American History at Smithsonian Institution. Readers of Pediatrics are urged to cooperate in this national effort to locate materials of historical interest in back rooms of hospitals and in private collections. The material of interest ranges from incubators (Lion-type used in incubatorbaby exhibits to the present-day models), resuscitation and ventilating devices (delivery-room apparatus, Bloxom Air-Lock, rocking bed, respirators ...), feeding items (gavage equipment, nasal spoons, indwelling tubes ...), photographs, hospital records (statistical reports, examples of patient records ...) and equipment used in landmark investigations (calorimetry, oxygen consumption ...).

Should Museums Serve the Visually Handicapped?

1975 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 461-464
Author(s):  
Dove Toll
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Smithsonian Institution ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Special Training ◽  
History Of ◽  
Blind Persons ◽  
Visually Handicapped

The National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution undertook a research project to determine what could be done to enable visually handicapped persons to benefit from the museum's resources. Programs currently of interest to the blind were advertised, with maps of touchable objects throughout the museum made available. In addition, books about the Smithsonian have been brailled, cassette tours of individual halls prepared, exhibit designers encouraged to include more touchable objects in their displays, and docents given special training in how to relate to and guide blind persons. Further sources of information appear at the end of this article.

American Memory, Culture Wars, and the Challenge of Presenting Science and Technology in a National Museum

2007 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROGER D. LAUNIUS
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Smithsonian Institution ◽  
Culture Wars ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Historic Sites ◽  
The Past ◽  
Memory Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
American Memory

Abstract There is no question that the American public has an unabashed appetite for history. This is demonstrated in numerous ways from bestsellers by popular historians to tourism at historic sites and museums to the popularity of films and other media depicting versions of the past. Although historians might think that the discourse presented in most of these forums is simplistic and stilted, little doubt exists that it is passionate. This discussion explores a few of the issues affecting the public's deep fascination with the past, especially in the context of the history of science and technology, and the presentation of these issues in the Smithsonian Institution. These thoughts are tentative and speculative, but, I hope, stimulating and worthy of further consideration.

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