Science & Mathematics - Overview
The Museum's collections hold thousands of objects related to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Instruments range from early American telescopes to lasers. Rare glassware and other artifacts from the laboratory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, are among the scientific treasures here. A Gilbert chemistry set of about 1937 and other objects testify to the pleasures of amateur science. Artifacts also help illuminate the social and political history of biology and the roles of women and minorities in science.
The mathematics collection holds artifacts from slide rules and flash cards to code-breaking equipment. More than 1,000 models demonstrate some of the problems and principles of mathematics, and 80 abstract paintings by illustrator and cartoonist Crockett Johnson show his visual interpretations of mathematical theorems.
"Science & Mathematics - Overview" showing 16 items.
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Soroban, or Japanese Abacus
- Description
- This tiny abacus has an open black plastic frame with a black plastic cross piece. It contains seven metal rods. Each carries one white plastic bead above the cross piece and four below. There are no maker's marks on the instrument.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1981.0922.18
- catalog number
- 1981.0922.18
- accession number
- 1981.0922
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Suan-p'an, or Chinese Abacus
- Description
- This instrument has an open wooden frame held together with brass nails passing through metal bands. A wooden cross bar holds 13 columns of beads. Each column has two beads above the crossbar and five beads below. The beads are rounded, as on other Chinese abaci. There are no marks by a maker.
- This form of abacus was sold in combination with a book entitled Abacus Arithmetic by the Australian-born metallurgist, Stanford University graduate, and later Stanford professor of metallurgy Welton J. Crook (1886-1976). Crook became fascinated with the abacus on a visit to Hong Kong, and resolved to publish a clear exposition on the instrument in English. His short book was published in 1958 by Pacific Books in Palo Alto, California, and sold tens of thousands of copies. For a copy of this paperback, see 1989.0709.03. The abacus and the related book were given to the Smithsonian by Washington, D. C., clockmaker Elton L. Howe in 1989.
- On Crook, see: Stanford University Faculty Memorials, “Memorial Resolution Welton J. Crook (1886-1976)," digitized by the Stanford Historical Society .
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1958
- ID Number
- 1989.0709.01
- catalog number
- 1989.0709.01
- accession number
- 1989.0709
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Suan-p'an, or Chinese Abacus
- Description
- This instrument sits in a rosewood box with rosewood cross piece. Fifteen parallel bamboo rods pass through the cross piece. Each rod has two wooden beads above and five below the cross piece. The beads are rounded, like those on other Chinese abaci. Brass corner pieces hold the box together.
- Frank A.Taylor, a staff member in the Department of Arts and Industries at the United States National Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, first lent the abacus to the National Collections in 1928 for use in a display of calculating instruments. He lent the object as an example of a modern Chinese abacus. He donated it in 1960.There is no mark by a maker.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1925
- ID Number
- MA*309527
- catalog number
- 309527
- accession number
- 104133
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Tchoty, or Russian Abacus
- Description
- This modern Russian abacus has a black plastic frame and 13 parallel metal wires that hold beads. There are ten beads on each rod, with two blue ones in the middle and four white ones on either side. On the third and sixth row, the leftmost bead is also blue. The fourth row from the bottom has only four beads - two blue ones in the center and a white bead on either side.
- The cardboard envelope is yellow, red, and tan, with a drawing of the abacus. The envelope is marked in pencil: MOSCOW (/) Sept. 1958 (/) G.U.M. Other marks on it are in Russian.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1958
- ID Number
- MA*335269
- catalog number
- 335269
- accession number
- 314637
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Soroban, or Japanese Abacus
- Description
- This abacus has an open wooden frame painted black and a wooden cross piece with an inset white strip on top. Twenty-three parallel wooden rods hold the beads. On each rod, there is one bead above the cross piece and four below. The beads are similar in shape to those on other Japanese abaci. Every third column of beads is marked with a black dot on the cross piece. The central column has two black dots and a red dot as well. Every fifth column is marked with a white dot. The abacus is stored in a cardboard box covered with decorated paper. There is no mark of a maker.
- The instrument was given to the Smithsonian by G. Norman Albree, along with several circular slide rules of his design. According to the donor, his first introduction to the soroban was in 1958. He found addition and subtraction straightforward and bought this larger instrument to try multiplication and division. However, the beads were too small for his seventy-year-old fingers and thumb. Albree put the instrument aside, and returned to using logarithmic tables for multiplication and division.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1959
- ID Number
- MA*335485
- catalog number
- 335485
- accession number
- 321674
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Soroban, or Japanese Abacus
- Description
- This Japanese abacus is in the lid of a rosewood box. A wooden cross bar colored white is painted with various characters labeling various columns of the abacus. Columns 1 to 6 are labeled in units of volume used to measure rice. Columns 8 through 13 are labeled in units of Japanese currency. Column 7 is not labeled.
- The beads of the abacus move on 13 parallel bamboo rods, with one bead above the cross bar and five below. The shape of the beads is like that of other Japanese abaci. The base of the box contains a large container with hardened black ink, a smaller container with red ink, additional bars of red and black ink, and a brush for drawing characters.
- A paper sheet received with the abacus indicates that it was used by Dr. S. Tetsu Tamura as a schoolboy from 1885 to 1897 and presented to Cleveland Abbe in 1906.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1885
- ID Number
- 1979.0876.04
- catalog number
- 1979.0876.04
- accession number
- 1979.0876
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Tchoty, or Russian Abacus
- Description
- This Russian abacus, or tchoty has a well-finished wooden frame, eight metal rods for carrying the beads, and plastic beads that move along the rods. Seven rods have four red beads, two purple beads, and then another four red beads. The other rod (the fourth from the bottom) has one red bead, two purple beads, and then another red bead. Loose inside the paper box are a small gray slip of paper and a larger beige paper, which appears to be a sales receipt.
- This abacus was purchased in August 1965 by George W. Sims of California. Sims, who was born in about 1898, was a tax collector, certified public accountant, world traveller, and collector. Handwritten notations on the cardboard box in which the instrument was received indicate when it was purchased and state that it came from Smolensk in the Russian SSR, and cost the equivalent of 61 American cents. Documentation received in the same accession as the abacus (1988.0489.02) relates to the Chinese abacus, not this one.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965
- ID Number
- 1988.0489.01
- catalog number
- 1988.0489.01
- accession number
- 1988.0489
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Soroban, or Japanese Abacus
- Description
- This wooden instrument has an open frame and is stored in an open wooden box. The frame (which lifts out of the box) has a cross bar and holds 21 parallel bamboo rods. Each rod holds one bead above the cross bar and five below. The beads have a similar shape to those of other Japanese abaci. All the columns of the abacus except the center one are labeled with Japanese characters on the cross bar.
- According to the donor,writing found on the back of the cross bar indicates that the abacus was made by Oh Tani (or Oh Ya) in Hiroshima and owned by Yoshizaemon Muraoka of Sakata-ken (a city in northern Japan, which was known by that name from 1871 until 1933, when it became Sakata-shi).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1900
- maker
- Oh Tani or Oh Ya
- ID Number
- 1989.0515.01
- catalog number
- 1989.0515.01
- accession number
- 1989.0515
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Suan-p'an, or Chinese Abacus (Double)
- Description
- This double abacus has a wooden frame with 25 columns of wooden beads which slide on bamboo rods. It apparently was designed for use by two people at once. Each rod has 14 beads. A relatively thick wooden cross piece down the center divides the beads into groups of seven. Two thinner cross pieces divide the groups of seven into groups of two and five.
- Metal brackets hold the instrument together at the corner, with two wooden supports at the back. Holes drilled at one end hold loops of green plastic twine that are held together with a small metal ring and allow the instrument to be mounted on a wall.
- The three characters carved on the center of the cross piece represent general words such as “happiness” or “wisdom.” The loops and the orientation of the characters suggest that the instrument was sold as much as a wall ornament as a practical device.
- The donor received the abacus as a gift from Simon Newman, Deputy Director of Research and Development of the U.S. Patent Office. Mr. Newman died in 1985. He had traveled in Hong Kong.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1997.0106.01
- catalog number
- 1997.0106.01
- accession number
- 1997.0106
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Toy Abacus
- Description
- In the 1950s, tools long used to communicate elementary ideas about counting and arithmetic moved from the classroom into the home. The numeral frame, which resembles a Russian abacus, was brought to the United States from Europe in the 1820s, and used in many classrooms to communicate basic arithmetic concepts to groups of students.
- By the mid-20th century, numeral frames were sold for use by young children in the home. This brightly painted example has a wooden frame, five metal horizontal cross rods, and a metal support at the back. Each cross rod carries 10 sliding wooden beads. The toy was designed to teach elementary counting, addition, subtraction, and simple fractions. The object is marked: Royal (/) Tot (/) EDUCATIONAL (/) TOY. It also is marked: Box No. 1450. There is a cardboard box. This numeral frame was sold by a pharmacy in Sherman, N.Y., and cost $1.00.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1950s?
- ID Number
- 2002.3058.01
- catalog number
- 2002.3058.01
- nonaccession number
- 2002.3058
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center