British physicist joins Science Museum staff

Physics Today ◽  
2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 660
Author(s):  
Monica Cerdan Chiscano ◽  
Ana Isabel Jiménez-Zarco

In the field of cultural tourism, museums have been pioneers in focusing on visitors with disabilities. They have used inclusive orientation to offer the kind of memorable and satisfying experiences that are so beneficial to a group at constant risk of social exclusion. Their task is made more difficult, however, by visitors’ perception of barriers to inclusion, and identification therefore becomes a priority at the strategic level. Based on this idea, the present study analyzes experiences from two tours of the CosmoCaixa Barcelona museum by 32 people with disabilities (PwD). The use of ethnographic techniques and post-experience interviews shows how, despite the legal framework in relation to people with disabilities, hospitality managers find it difficult to put this framework into practice and cater to the needs of this segment of the population. Two factors become particularly clear: the difficulties experienced by museum staff in identifying people with disability, and museum managers’ lack of training and knowledge of the wants and needs of people with disabilities. Academic and strategic recommendations for museum managers are provided at the end of the article.


Since the preparation of my paper on the two equatorial mounting telescopes made by Henry Hindley (1701-1771), published in the previous issue of Notes and Records (1), one of his two instruments has been located and identified. As this York instrument and clock-maker is only known to have made two telescopes, both of an advanced type, the finding of such an instrument is of considerable significance. It is to be found in the Science Museum, South Kensington, and was jointly recognized by Mr R. J. Law on the Museum staff in the company of the writer. Its maker had been presumed to be one John King of Bristol, whose name appears engraved in the compass box which lies within the base tripod. However, since John King is unknown as an instrument maker, the question of whether he actually made the telescope was raised in 1948 when it was acquired by the Museum. The telescope is almost certainly the one that John Smeaton (1724-1792, F.R.S. 11753) described as being made for the Duke of Norfolk about the year 1762, more than twenty years after the first instrument as seen by Smeaton on his visit to Hindley’s York workshops in 1741 (2). On the accompanying photograph, the bell-shaped balance beneath the equatorial plate can be clearly seen. This counterbalance was incorporated by Hindley on the suggestion of Smeaton (2) to overcome the flexing of the mounting. The balance was clearly designed as an intergal part of the mounting unlike the arc-segment applied to the telescope described in the previous issue; the latter’s mounting had had to be modified and pillars introduced to accommodate the balance.


2000 ◽  
Vol 632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Werwa

ABSTRACTA review of the educational literature on naive concepts about principles of chemistry and physics and surveys of science museum visitors reveal that people of all ages have robust alternative notions about the nature of atoms, matter, and bonding that persist despite formal science education experiences. Some confusion arises from the profound differences in the way that scientists and the lay public use terms such as materials, metals, liquids, models, function, matter, and bonding. Many models that eloquently articulate arrangements of atoms and molecules to informed scientists are not widely understood by lay people and may promote naive notions among the public. Shifts from one type of atomic model to another and changes in size scales are particularly confusing to learners. People's abilities to describe and understand the properties of materials are largely based on tangible experiences, and much of what students learn in school does not help them interpret their encounters with materials and phenomena in everyday life. Identification of these challenges will help educators better convey the principles of materials science and engineering to students, and will be particularly beneficial in the design of the Materials MicroWorld traveling museum exhibit.


2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-215
Author(s):  
Jana Greenslit ◽  
Aaron Price ◽  
Tiffany Malone
Keyword(s):  
Fine Art ◽  

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-95
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Ardoin ◽  
Janel S. Schuh ◽  
Kathayoon A. Khalil

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