
		THE WORLD PICTURE CHANGING
	Does the cannon-ball return?	History of sciences tells how man, through the ages, have wondered at life and the forces of nature. However, it is also the story of how scientific discoveries have influenced our understanding of ourselves and of the universe surrounding us. One of the central revolutions of our world view is the realization of Antiquity that the earth is not flat, but sphericial, and the realisation of the Renaissance that this sphere is not the firm centre of the universe, but a planet moving round the sun like the other planets. Since then it has even become apparent that the sun is only a relatively small star on the fringes of a rather common galaxy, the Milky Way. This development may explain the growing interest in the individual since the Renaissance. The history of science can also give us a glimpse of how, during the last couple of centuries, our knowledge of nature has become so detailed that it has become possible - to an increasing extent - to use it systematically in the form of new technology.


		From Stonehenge to the atomic bomb
	Weighing of the world pictures	The history of science exhibition at the Steno Museum is divided into a chronological part and a thematic part. The chronological part gives an outline of the development of the exact sciences from ancient times to the Scientific Revolution. A special emphasis is put on the development of cosmology. This story begins with stone age astronomy, e.g. Stonehenge, followed by a survey of Egyptian, Babylonian and Greek astronomy and mathematics. After an exposition of the many medieval sciences comes a presentation of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galileo and Kepler, which focuses on the transition from a geocentric to a heliocentric astronomy. Finally examples are given of the breakthrough in experimental physics in the seventeenth century.


	Merz telescope	The thematic part deals with subjects such as astronomy, surveying, optics, electromagnetism, atomic and nuclear physics, radio, calculators and chemistry. The exhibit includes a number of geodetic and smaller astronomical instruments as well as some huge telescopes from around 1860. As a part of the presentation of the history of electromagnetism it is possible to repeat some of Ørsted's, Ampere's and Faraday's experiments. It is also possible to morse with an old electromagnetic telegraph. In the section about atomic physics it is possible to see spectra as well as samples of almost all the elements. There is also a big cloud chamber which makes it possible to see the otherwise invisible background radiation. Within the radio engineering section it is shown how the transistor has revolutionised electronics. Among the calculators on display is one of the first computers built in Denmark in the late 1950s.

The Steno Museum, C.F. Møllers Alle 2, Build. 1100, DK-8000 Århus C
Phone: +45 89 42 39 75, E-mail: stenomuseet@si.au.dk