Natural Philosophy Collection

The LEMUR Collection

Lemur

The Lemur project is an inter-College, inter-disciplinary project to develop web-based teaching resources that introduce objects from our historical collections.

The use of historical equipment in physics courses puts physical principles and applications more firmly into their social and cultural context, an aspect that is conspicuously absent in many physics courses. Scientists as a whole do not have a good reputaion for being able to relate their work to the interests of the public at large. There are notable exceptions. One of our contributions to improving the education of our science graduates is to increase their exposure to the historical context of their subject; one of our contributions to the education of arts graduates is to increase their exposure to the instruments of science. The Lemur project promises to bring the 'two cultures' noticeably closer together.

Binocular microscope

Binocular microscope and accesories by Smith, Beck and Beck ~1860

The Lemur project involved developing courseware that used historical artefacts and providing high-quality professional photographs of selected museum pieces within the collections of the Univeristy of Aberdeen, including some 150 scientific instruments. You can search the Lemur database, not only for instruments but for university pictures, archeology and more. All the Lemur instrument pictures will also appear on our simple database search facility.