Natural Philosophy Collection

The origin and context of the collection

The Natural Philosophy collection is based upon material that has been in use in the University of Aberdeen primarily for the purpose of teaching and research in the area that used to be called Natural Philosophy. The subject has diversified in modern times but the mainstream has developed as Physics.

Since the application of physical principles is an integral part of teaching this subject, areas of application that have been associated with the teaching of physical science are particularly represented. These include meteorology, medical physics, computation and areas such as navigation and surveying.

Although there is archival evidence that the University possessed some equipment in the late 17th century, the significant use of equipment as an aid to teaching did not begin until the 18th century. The man responsible was Professor Patrick Copland [pdf]. Most of the material in our collection has come from the University's Department of Natural Philosophy, now the Department of Physics. The earliest material dates to the mid 18th century; the most recent material to the end of the 20th century. We have some pieces relevant to the Natural Philosophy theme from the Departments of Chemistry, Geology, Engineering and the former Department of Biomedical Physics.

Patrick Copland began a collection of equipment and demonstration apparatus at the end of the 18th century that some historical writers called a 'museum' but in practice the modern recognition of our material as 'a collection' and the display of part of it in a museum dates from 1973.

Not quite a history of the collection but a historical overview of the collection can be found in the accompanying web article [pdf].