Category: Archives

More than a DodoLeave a comment

An Eye for a Pattern

Dorothy1

Fifty years ago this month the Royal Swedish Academy announced that Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin had won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She remains the only British woman scientist ever to win a Nobel Prize.

Hodgkin with fellow Nobel laureate Max Perutz,
Hodgkin with fellow Nobel laureate Max Perutz,

The Museum celebrated Hodgkin’s achievement with a bust in the Court – the only female face among all the statues looking down on the dinosaurs. Although the bust is currently off display, undergoing conservation work, she deserves her place more than anyone: she first learned the skills of X-ray crystallography in the Museum, and carried out all of her Nobel Prizewinning work there.

Georgina Ferry, author of Dorothy Hodgkin: A Life, and a former author in residence at the Museum, reveals more about Dorothy’s work.

*

In 1928, when Dorothy Crowfoot (as she then was) arrived in Oxford to study chemistry, the Museum was still the centre of teaching and research in several science subjects including crystallography. The following year the department installed the equipment needed for X-ray work. Dorothy chose to do her Part II research project in X-ray crystallography, the first student to do so. From photographs of the patterns of spots generated by firing beams of X-rays through tiny crystals, she could calculate the positions of the atoms inside the crystal, and so understand how its structure influenced its chemical role.

This shot is believed to show Dorothy with an exhibition of her work, in the Museum
This photo is believed to show Dorothy with an exhibition of her work, in the Museum

At the time the whole Mineralogy and Crystallography Department worked and taught in the room under the tower where Samuel Wilberforce and Thomas Huxley conducted their famous debate on human evolution in 1860. There was a darkroom suspended from the ceiling for examining crystals, another curtained-off area for developing photographs, and the X-ray tube, connected to an alarmingly unsafe power supply, sat on a table in the corner.

Dorothy HodgkinAfter getting a first class degree in 1932, Dorothy went to Cambridge to do a PhD with JD Bernal. There she began to study biologically important substances such as cholesterol and pepsin.

Two years later she was back in Oxford with a fellowship at Somerville. She started her own research in a dingy semi-basement in the northwest corner of the Museum. That remained her lab for more than 20 years. It was there that she solved the three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in crystals of penicillin and Vitamin B12, the achievements that won her the Nobel Prize.

Dorothy with her children, on the day her Fellowship of the Royal Society was announced, 1947
Dorothy with her children, on the day her Fellowship of the Royal Society was announced, 1947

All through this week, as the Nobel Prizes for 2014 are being announced, you can hear Dorothy’s life story told through her letters on BBC Radio 4, in the series An Eye for Pattern (it will be on iPlayer thereafter if you missed it).

With thanks to the Bodleian Library and the Department of Chemistry,University of Oxford for the use of the photographs.

More than a DodoLeave a comment

At home in Yorkshire

P1000251In rush hour traffic, carrying a precious cargo, the Museum’s Director, Professor Paul Smith and Head of Archival Collections, Kate Santry, headed north. They took the William Smith archive on tour to the Yorkshire Fossil Festival, in lovely Scarborough. Hosted by the Scarborough Museums Trust, in partnership with the Paleontological Association, the Yorkshire Fossil Festival had a wide array of exhibitors, lectures and events all celebrating fossils over the course of three days.

Festival-goers constructing a geological map of Yorkshire using stones. Smith would have been proud!
Festival-goers constructing a geological map of Yorkshire using stones. Smith would have been proud!

Despite some chilly and cloudy weather the festival saw a great turn-out. On Friday 12th September, a number of local primary and secondary schools made a visit, participating in activities that gave hands-on experience in understanding more about fossils. The school groups who visited our stall had the opportunity to act out a play exploring how fossils are made with our Director, Paul Smith, as the narrator!

P1000259
Horace the travelling Pliosaur cinema

The crowds visiting the festival over Saturday and Sunday got a rare look at original material from the William Smith archive and were asked to help us transcribe the collection, which has recently been digitised and catalogued. Although he is ‘the father of English geology’, William Smith is not a universally known figure in the history of science. But it was a very different matter with the Scarborough crowd.

William Smith
William Smith, ‘Father of English geology’ and Scarborough resident

Born here in Oxfordshire, Smith lived in Scarborough at the time he died in 1839 and was an active and important figure in the town. In addition to being an early member of the Philosophical Society, he was also consulted to solve the town’s water supply issues, select stone for the bridge between the town and its newly discovered spa, and most notably in helping to design the Rotunda Museum that was our base for the three days.

The biggest hit at our table over the weekend was the Geological Map of Yorkshire, published by Smith and Cary in 1820 as part of his County Map series. While approximately 400 people spent time looking closely at, and talking with us about this important map, its popularity was followed closely by a copy of Smith’s wine merchant’s bill from Scarborough dated 1839. It certainly appears that Smith was a fan of gin and marsala…

More than a DodoLeave a comment

And the winner is…

IMG_3525
Katherine Child, Kate Santry, Peter Eeles, James Hogan and Darren Mann (l-r)

Congratulations to our fabulous Life and Archival Collections teams! They’re a pretty friendly bunch, always keen to help researchers and enthusiasts, giving unrivalled access to their knowledge and their collections. This welcoming attitude has now been recognised by the organisation UK Butterflies, who have awarded them with an Outstanding Contribution Award.

Peter Eeles (l) presents the award to James Hogan
Peter Eeles (l) presents the award to James Hogan

This is the first time that the award has been given to an organisation, rather than an individual, which was apparently “in special recognition of the role that this team of committed individuals has played in helping bring the UK Butterflies website to a whole new level.”

IMG_3532

Peter Eeles, who developed and runs the UK Butterflies website, has been visiting the Hope Entomological Collections (part of our Life Collections) for many years. He says that the staff have always been “encouraging, knowledgeable and welcoming” and have truly helped advance the mission statement of the organisation; Building a community of responsible butterfly enthusiasts.

Peter Eeles admires some Camberwell Beauty butterflies.
Peter admires some Camberwell Beauty butterflies.

James Hogan, from the Hope Collection, has worked closely with Peter and his colleagues and says;
“It’s a great honour to be recognised and it’s always a pleasure to welcome the UK Butterflies members.

“They’re always enthusiastic about what they do and I learn a huge amount about our collections, too. There’s no point having collections if no-one uses them!”

The Library and Archives, run by Kate Santry, has been vital in research into the history of entomology. Last year, Mark Colvin, a contributor to the website, used the collections to study the life and works of James Charles Dale. By combining diaries and photos from the Archives and specimens from the Life Collections, he built up a thorough report on the entomologists’ work. Peter interviewed Kate about her work back in December last year and put the interview onto the website.

Mark and Peter talked about the impressive ‘open door’ policy that the staff have, and this doesn’t just extend to entomologists. Kate is always very keen to point out that the Library is open to anyone who would like to visit. Just drop her an email on libary@oum.ox.ac.uk to arrange a good time to call in.

Thanks to Peter, Mark and all at UK Butterflies, for this exciting award – now to find the perfect spot to show it off!

Rachel Parle, Interpretation and Education Officer

More than a DodoLeave a comment

It must be autumn – the interns have flown

James organising the South Sudanese butterflies
James Evry organising the South Sudanese butterflies

It seems very quiet this week, now the last of our undergraduate interns has left us. A week ago, third year Earth sciences student Keyron Hickman-Lewis identified and numbered his last tray of specimens from the 19th century Parker collection, photographed some of the finest Jurassic fish jaws, sharks’ teeth, and other beautifully preserved fossils, before heading home to enjoy a well-earned break.

We’ve been running paid undergraduate internships for several years now, supported by grants from the University’s E.P.A. Cephalosporin Fund. The students tackle curatorial projects – sorting, identifying, numbering and cataloguing specimens, or helping to organise and list archives. This enables us to get a lot of curatorial work done, and it gives the interns a chance to handle and learn about a wider range of specimens and materials than they would ever see on their degree courses, while learning new skills which will be useful in their future careers. This year we also had interns funded through Oxford University’s own internship scheme, all tackling projects with more of a research focus.

Naomi (l) and Branwen (r) numbering Freeman collection minerals
Naomi (l) and Branwen (r) numbering Freeman collection minerals

Second year biologist, Ellen Foley-Williams worked on the Long-horn Beetle collection, but she’s really interested in science communication, so we set her an extra challenge of running a blog where all the interns could share their experiences; have a look at More Than an Intern to discover more.

Naomi (r) showing off some Cumbrian iron ore from her home county, and a an iron meteorite from space in ‘Spotlight specimens’

Some of the interns rose to the challenge of joining our ‘Spotlight Specimens’ rota. Every weekday afternoon at 2.30, a member of staff takes some favourite specimens from behind-the-scenes, and talks about them to museum visitors. It may be a bit scary first time, but every one of the interns said it was really fun to do – if sometimes a little challenging with such a varied audience.

In total, we had eleven interns, each spending six weeks working on a specific project. So Branwen, Cecilia, Ellen, Emily G., Emily T., Grace, James, Keyron, Max, Naomi, and Steph, we’d like to thank you all for being hard-working and lots of fun to have around. We hope we’ll see lots more of you all in coming years.

Monica Price, Head of Earth Collections

More than a DodoLeave a comment

Treasure hunters

dsc_64661

The many nooks, crannies, corridors and cupboards of the Museum are often home to fascinating historical material, long-since filed away for safe keeping and sometimes half-forgotten. Rummaging around in towers and basements is therefore quite an exciting prospect.

Cecilia Karlsson, one of the twelve interns who joined us recently, had the enviable task of doing just this kind of rummaging, high up on one of the top levels of the building. Here Cecilia tells us a bit more about what she was doing and what she found.

“At the start of my internship I worked in the Library archive with the more well-used material that is already collated and stored by author. But later I got the chance to sort through the archive of maps and charts that is hidden away in the old paper conservation studio.

Excitingly, the first thing we pulled out was a signed map by Roderick Impey Murchison, produced between 1831 and 1838, depicting the Silurian region and adjacent counties of England and Wales – the first geological map produced of that region!

Murchison was a Scottish geologist who in 1831 started studying the greywacke rocks underlying the Old Red Sandstone at the border of England and Wales. He subsequently grouped them into a new order of succession, which he called the Silurian System, a period lying between the older Ordovician and younger Devonian periods, and with its own distinct organic remains and unique rock formations.

I later found three watercolours of numerous geological sections from the Lower and Upper Silurian, signed by Murchison but owned by William Buckland, Oxford’s first Reader in Geology.

dsc_64631
A watercolour signed by Murchison.

I’ve since encountered a whole array of maps of various parts of the world, from regional maps of the Nile basin in Egypt, to small parishes in the UK, through to maps of continents and the world, all dating between 1836 and 1924. Other finds in the archive have included numerous lecture diagrams depicting mainly fossil shells and trilobites from Silurian and Devonian rock deposits. These are in the style of English geologist John Phillips, who was William Buckland’s successor as Reader of Geology. Phillips may have used the displays as lecture aids during his time at the University, from 1853 to his death in 1874.

dsc_6473
A lecture poster depicting trilobites, in the style of, and possibly used by John Phillips, Reader in Geology at the University of Oxford, 1853-1874.

Most of the maps and charts are in need of some conservation care, including cleaning and storage in conservation-grade boxes. I have also been cataloguing them with descriptions so that they can be uploaded to the new content management system for later searching online. These descriptions include information on the author, date, and dimensions of an item, as well as an outline of its key features, language, location and condition.

However, the majority of the material has no associated authors or dates, so the next stage would be to trace their origins so that this information can be added.”

A job for another treasure hunter perhaps?

Cecilia Karlsson – EPA Cephalosporin Fund intern, 2014
Scott Billings – Public engagement officer

More than a DodoLeave a comment

Viva Volunteers!

Alice facepaintingThey sort, they scan, they stick, they smile: who are they? Our team of brilliant Collections and Public Engagement Volunteers of course! This week has been the 30th anniversary of Volunteers’ Week, so we wanted to put the spotlight on them…

The majority of our volunteers help with public events, particularly those for our family audience. In 2014 alone, our awesome team of volunteers have given the Museum over 1500 hours of their time to help with public engagement events. This includes painting children’s faces, like the wonderful Alice Wilby (above), leading tours of the Museum’s architecture and running a pub quiz at one of our late night events. IMG_1322

On top of that, we have a team working away behind the scenes supporting our collections staff. Here’s just a sample of the projects they’ve been working on this week…

Laura Cotton in the Earth Collections.
Laura Cotton in the Earth Collections.

– 5 volunteers identifying butterflies from painted images in our Archival Collections.
– 1 volunteer working in the Life Collections sorting and cataloguing bones.
– 4 volunteers tucked away in the Earth Collections cleaning ancient horse fossils or sorting Jurassic fish teeth.

Simone Dogherty is the Museum’s Education Assistant and co-ordinator of Science Saturdays – a weekly family event aimed at older children and led entirely by volunteer scientists. So why does she think volunteers are so valuable?

We’re very lucky here to have such a large quantity and high quality of volunteers. They help us with a huge range of activities and with the increase in visitor numbers that the Museum has been experiencing since re-opening in February, I just don’t know how we’d cope without them.
For Science Saturdays we use volunteers with a specific expertise. This gives children access to enthusiastic and inspiring individuals that they can look up to. And, in return, the volunteers gain valuable science communication skills.

Fancy joining our merry band of volunteers? Whether you’re into making masks or dusting off molluscs, we need you! You can simply sign up to help out on our Volunteers website.

But what’s in it for you? Aside from the glow of knowing you’ve simply helped us do more, you can develop your confidence when working with the public, learn a new skill or get up close with the treasures stashed away behind the scenes. But that’s forgetting the most important part – you’d be joining a fantastic team of people who, like you, think this museum is a pretty exciting place to be!

Rachel Parle, Interpretation and Education Officer