History of Science Museum

The History of Science Museum stands on Broad Street in Oxford, in a Grade I listed building constructed in 1683. Known also as the Old Ashmolean Building, it is the world’s oldest surviving purpose-built museum. The museum was created to house Elias Ashmole’s collection and to promote the new learning of the 17th century. Experiments in natural philosophy were carried out in a basement laboratory, while lectures took place on the middle floor. In 1924 Lewis Evans donated his collection of historic scientific instruments, which became the Lewis Evans Collection. The museum holds around 18,000 objects spanning antiquity to the early 20th century. Among its most notable items is Einstein’s Blackboard, used during his Oxford lectures in 1931 and saved by university dons. The collection includes the world’s most complete set of astrolabes, with about 170 instruments, alongside quadrants, sundials, early mathematical tools and optical instruments. The Beeson Room displays mechanical clocks, including lantern and longcase clocks, while early turret clocks are shown above the basement stairs. Visitors find a reference library with manuscripts, early printed books and photographic items related to scientific instruments. The museum also exhibits ivory objects made by Lady Gertrude Crawford and hosts rotating exhibitions such as the 2009–10 Steampunk display. A separate archive, the Rochester Avionic Archive, features pieces from the Elliot Brothers, Marconi and BAE Systems. The building’s north screen carries busts of Roman Emperors, linking it to the Sheldonian Theatre.