Join us in UCL Special Collections' South Junction Reading Room to see a selection of the department's impressive collection of rare books, archives and manuscripts relating to Physics and Astronomy.
The collection will provisionally include:
- From 1687, first edition of Newton's Principia Mathematica: arguably the most famous work in the history of Science.
- From 1610, Sidereus Nunceus by Galileo Galilei, with an unconfirmed handwritten note by Galileo himself.
- From 1543, Nicolas Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, with the first ever Sun-centric Solar System model.
- From 1594, Euclid trans. - Elementorum geometricorum
- From 1476, Calendarium by Regiomontanus, with the first accurate predictions of positions of solar system bodies and celestial events, and use of trigonometry
- From 1759, Du Châtelet's Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturellm, one of the early texts advocating for women in science and popularizing newtonian physics
- From 1491, Alchabitius's Libellus ysagogicus, discussing early astrology, astronomy, math and philosophy
And more translations and manuscripts that predate the invention of paper!
It's also a great opportunity to learn about what special collections are and to meet people working as archivists, rare books librarians, educators in digitisation and in conservation at a fun, free event!
This is a pop-in event in a small room, so we have created two time slots; 10am and 11am and visitors do not need to turn up at the very start of each of those time slots, you can pop in at any time during this hour. Please be aware that you may be asked to wait outside until the room has sufficient capacity.
Venue requirements:
- Visitors will need to leave any bags and coats at the front desk when coming into the art museum.
- Absolutely no food or drink - please throw out any coffee cups before coming in or keep food/water bottles/etc in bags.
- No pens for taking notes - we will provide pencils if you want to take notes. You are welcome to take photographs.
- There will be photography at this event; please tell us on arrival if you would prefer that you are not in any photographs taken.