Science & Mathematics

Chemical Balance

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.

Absorption apparatus

This absorption apparatus was used at the Chemistry department at the University of Pennsylvania.
Description (Brief)
This absorption apparatus was used at the Chemistry department at the University of Pennsylvania. Chemistry has been taught at the University since at least 1769 when doctor and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush (1746–1813), became Professor of Chemistry in the Medical School. A Chemistry department independent of the Medical School was established by 1874.
Sources:
“A Brief History of the Department of Chemistry at Penn.” University of Pennsylvania Department of Chemistry. Accessed March 20, 2015. https://www.chem.upenn.edu/content/penn-chemistry-history.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
CH.316244
catalog number
316244
accession number
217523

Bell Jar

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
The transparent glass bell jar provided a useful shape for trapping and observing gases. A chemical sample could be suspended in the jar and ignited by passing a beam of focused light or heat through the glass. Any gases emitted from its burning would be collected for further study.
Glassmaker William Parker of 69 Fleet St., London or his son Samuel likely made this bell jar. The Parkers supplied Priestley with laboratory glassware free of charge, even after his move to the United States from London. Priestley wrote in a letter to Rev. Samuel Palmer, of his new home in Northumberland, Pennsylvania: “I have more advantages [in respect to experiments] than you could easily imagine in this remote place. I want hardly anything but a glass house.” Indeed, without a local supplier, getting glassware to Northumberland was quite a challenge. A letter to Samuel Parker dated January 20, 1795 details Priestley’s plan to have his most recent shipment brought from Philadelphia to Northumberland via a sleigh, “which is our best method of conveyance in winter.”
Source:
Badash, Lawrence. 1964. “Joseph Priestley’s Apparatus for Pneumatic Chemistry.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences XIX (2): 139–55. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XIX.2.139.
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Priestley, Joseph, and John Towill Rutt. 1817. The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley. Vol. I Part 2. [London : Printed by G. Smallfield. http://archive.org/details/theologicalmisce0102prie.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315347
catalog number
315347
accession number
13305

Flask

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this flask in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this flask in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Source:
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Description
This very long green glass flask belonged to Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), the accomplished and controversial English chemist and natural philosopher, and was undoubtedly made after his immigration to the United States in 1794.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315355.23
accession number
13305
catalog number
315355.23

Kipp Gas Generator

Petrus Jacobus Kipp (1808–1864) was a Dutch pharmacist who, in 1844, published designs for two simple gas generators made for him by the master German glassblower Heinrich Geissler (1814–1879). The second of the two became the Kipp gas generator.Homburg, Ernst.
Description
Petrus Jacobus Kipp (1808–1864) was a Dutch pharmacist who, in 1844, published designs for two simple gas generators made for him by the master German glassblower Heinrich Geissler (1814–1879). The second of the two became the Kipp gas generator.
Homburg, Ernst. “The Story behind the Name 4: Kipp’s Apparatus.” Royal Society of Chemistry Historical Group Newsletter (2001).
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Kipp & Zonen
ID Number
CH.316259.01
accession number
217523
catalog number
316259.01

Flask

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this flask in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this flask in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Source:
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Description
This clear glass flask belonged to Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), the accomplished and controversial English chemist and natural philosopher, and was undoubtedly made after his immigration to the United States in 1794.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315355.20
accession number
13305
catalog number
315355.20

Ultracentrifuge Rotor

This rotor was the workhorse behind an ultracentrifuge used in the Chemistry Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from the 1930s through the 1950s.
Description (Brief)
This rotor was the workhorse behind an ultracentrifuge used in the Chemistry Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from the 1930s through the 1950s. Invented by Swedish chemist Theodor Svedberg in the mid-1920s, the ultracentrifuge was originally developed to analyze the weight of large molecules like proteins. Today it is commonly used to separate out molecules in solution.
Although based in Sweden for most of his life, Svedberg spent the spring of 1923 as a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin, where he developed the optical centrifuge. On his return to Sweden, he modified the centrifuge to have a higher centrifugal field, creating the ultracentrifuge.
The ultracentrifuge works on the principle that heavy molecules sediment out of a solution at a speed relating to their weight. But, gravity alone is not strong enough to cause very light molecules to fall out of solution. To address this, the ultracentrifuge spins rapidly to create a force stronger than gravity, causing particularly light molecules to begin sedimenting out of solution. As the molecules fall, they are photographed. Analysis of these photographs can be used to establish the speed at which the molecules fell. Because that speed is related to how heavy a molecule is, it can be used to determine molecular weights.
Before the introduction of the ultracentrifuge, there was no reliable method for determining the molecular weight of proteins and other large molecules. For this and similar research, Svedberg won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1926.
Sources:
“The Analytical Ultracentrifuge: The First Half Century 1924–1974. Part I: Svedberg and the Early Experiments.” Pedersen, Kai O. Fraction: News of Biochemical Instrumentation. No. 1. Published by Spinco Division of Beckman Instruments, Inc. 1974.
“The Analytical Ultracentrifuge: The First Half Century 1924–1974. Part II: From the Colloid Experiments to DNA.” Williams, J.W. Fraction: News of Biochemical Instrumentation. No. 1. Published by Spinco Division of Beckman Instruments, Inc. 1974.
“Centrifuge, Ultra-.” p. 95. Instruments of Science: An Historical Encyclopedia. edited by Robert Bud and Deborah Jean Warner. Taylor & Francis. 1998.
Accession File
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1947
ID Number
CH.337002
catalog number
337002
accession number
1979.0188

Bell Jar

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
The transparent glass bell jar provided a useful shape for trapping and observing gases. A chemical sample could be suspended in the jar and ignited by passing a beam of focused light or heat through the glass. Any gases emitted from its burning would be collected for further study.
Glassmaker William Parker of 69 Fleet St., London or his son Samuel likely made this bell jar. The Parkers supplied Priestley with laboratory glassware free of charge, even after his move to the United States from London. Priestley wrote in a letter to Rev. Samuel Palmer, of his new home in Northumberland, Pennsylvania: “I have more advantages [in respect to experiments] than you could easily imagine in this remote place. I want hardly anything but a glass house.” Indeed, without a local supplier, getting glassware to Northumberland was quite a challenge. A letter to Samuel Parker dated January 20, 1795 details Priestley’s plan to have his most recent shipment brought from Philadelphia to Northumberland via a sleigh, “which is our best method of conveyance in winter.”
Source:
Badash, Lawrence. 1964. “Joseph Priestley’s Apparatus for Pneumatic Chemistry.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences XIX (2): 139–55. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XIX.2.139.
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Priestley, Joseph, and John Towill Rutt. 1817. The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley. Vol. I Part 2. [London : Printed by G. Smallfield. http://archive.org/details/theologicalmisce0102prie.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315349
accession number
13305
catalog number
315349

Meyer Sulfur Apparatus

Chemical catalogs indicate that Meyer’s sulfur apparatus is used for the determination of carbon in iron and steel by the use of barium hydrate and the determination of sulfur by the aid of bromine.
Description (Brief)
Chemical catalogs indicate that Meyer’s sulfur apparatus is used for the determination of carbon in iron and steel by the use of barium hydrate and the determination of sulfur by the aid of bromine. In addition to the six bulb version seen here, a ten bulb version was also available.
This object was used at the Chemistry department at the University of Pennsylvania. Chemistry has been taught at the University since at least 1769 when doctor and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush (1746–1813), became Professor of Chemistry in the Medical School. A Chemistry department independent of the Medical School was established by 1874.
Sources:
“A Brief History of the Department of Chemistry at Penn.” University of Pennsylvania Department of Chemistry. Accessed March 20, 2015. https://www.chem.upenn.edu/content/penn-chemistry-history.
Chemical Engineering Catalog 7. Chemical Catalog Company, 1922.
Description
Viktor Meyer (1848-1897) was a German chemist best known for inventing an apparatus for determining vapor densities. This example has six bulbs.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
CH.315837.047
accession number
217523
catalog number
315837.047

Leveling Bulb

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this leveling funnel bulb in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this leveling funnel bulb in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Source:
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315356.25
accession number
13305
catalog number
315356.25

Erlenmeyer Filtering flask

This is a modifed 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask made of Pyrex. The Erlenmeyer flask is named for Emil Erlenmeyer (1825–1909), a German organic chemist who designed the flask in 1861.
Description (Brief)
This is a modifed 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask made of Pyrex. The Erlenmeyer flask is named for Emil Erlenmeyer (1825–1909), a German organic chemist who designed the flask in 1861. The flask is often used for stirring or heating solutions and is purposefully designed to be useful for those tasks. The narrow top allows it to be stoppered, the sloping sides prevent liquids from slopping out when stirred, and the flat bottom can be placed on a heating mechanism or apparatus.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
Ridley, John. Essentials of Clinical Laboratory Science. Cengage Learning, 2010.
Sella, Andrea. “Classic Kit: Erlenmeyer Flask,” July 2008. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2008/July/ErlenmeyerFlask.asp.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1917-1930
maker
Corning Incorporated
ID Number
CH.316056.089
catalog number
316056.089
accession number
217523

Analytical Balance

This analytical balance stands on a mahogany box that, in turn, is enclosed in a mahogany case with glass front and back. The balance is brass; the bearings are steel and agate; the pans are copper.
Description
This analytical balance stands on a mahogany box that, in turn, is enclosed in a mahogany case with glass front and back. The balance is brass; the bearings are steel and agate; the pans are copper. The weights are in the drawer.
The “Pollock Boston Patent” inscription on the ivory scale refers to Allan Pollock, a Bostonian who received a U.S. patent for a balance, scale and beams, in 1815. According to a brief notice in the American Journal of Science 6 (1823): 371, Pollock was one of several Americans "advantageously known to the public" as a "manufacturer of thermometers and of philosophical apparatus."
This came from the laboratory of Ira Remsen, the first professor of chemistry at The Johns Hopkins University. Its earlier history is unknown.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early nineteenth century
used by
Remsen, Ira
maker
Pollock, Allan
ID Number
CH.315866.1
catalog number
315866.1
accession number
221777

Retort

The retort was made by Schott & Genossen. Retorts are among the oldest forms of glassware used in chemistry. With their bulbs and long necks, they are suitable for distillation—the separation of one material from another through heating.
Description (Brief)
The retort was made by Schott & Genossen. Retorts are among the oldest forms of glassware used in chemistry. With their bulbs and long necks, they are suitable for distillation—the separation of one material from another through heating. The bulb containing the sample is heated and the resulting gases travel along the neck to a second collecting vessel.
Glastechnisches Laboratorium Schott und Genossen (Glass Technology Laboratory, Schott & Associates), later the Jenaer Glasswerk Schott & Gen. (Jena Glassworks, Schott & Associates), was founded in 1884 by Otto Schott (1851–1935), Ernst Abbe (1840–1905), Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), and Zeiss' son Roderick.
In 1881 Schott, a chemist from a family of glassmakers, and Abbe, a physicist with an interest in optics, formed a research partnership. Together they hoped to perfect a chemical glass formula for lenses in optical instruments like microscopes and telescopes. Their original goal was to develop glasses of high quality and purity with consistent optical properties. As their research expanded, they eventually developed the first borosilicate glasses. Their strength against chemical attack and low coefficient of thermal expansion made them better suited to the harsh circumstances of the chemical laboratory than any other glass.
Jena Glass quickly became a success among the scientific community, widely considered the best on the market until World War I.
John Christian Bailar Jr. (1904–1991), a chemist with a more than sixty-year career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, donated this retort. Bailar helped usher in the post-World War II renaissance in inorganic chemistry and has been called “the father of American coordination chemistry.” Coordination chemistry focuses on molecules with a metal center, bound to atoms, ions, or molecules that donate electrons to the metal.
Sources:
Baker, Ray Stannard. Seen in Germany. Chautauqua, N. Y.: 1908. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433043165608.
Cauwood, J.D., and W.E.S. Turner. “The Attack of Chemical Reagents on Glass Surfaces, and a Comparison of Different Types of Chemical Glassware.” Journal of the Society of Glass Technology 1 (1917): 153–62.
Hovestadt, Heinrich. Jena Glass and Its Scientific and Industrial Applications. London, New York: Macmillan, 1902.
“Introduction to Coordination Chemistry.” Chemwiki.ucdavis.edu. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorganic_Chemistry/Coordination_Chemistry/Basics_of_Coordination_Chemistry/Introduction_to_Coordination_Chemistry.
“John Christian Bailar, Jr. (1904–1991).”The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://www.chemistry.illinois.edu/about/illini_chemists/bailar.html.
Pfaender, H. G. Schott Guide to Glass. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
Walker, Percy H. Comparative Tests of Chemical Glassware. Washington, D.C.: 1918. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086545707.
date made
after 1884
maker
Jena Glasswork, Schott & Associates
ID Number
CH.336524
accession number
1977.0602
catalog number
336524

Arithmetic Card for Use with a Numeral Frame

In the nineteenth century, Americans began to teach groups of young children in classrooms. Some institutions were designed especially for these children, and were called infant schools.
Description
In the nineteenth century, Americans began to teach groups of young children in classrooms. Some institutions were designed especially for these children, and were called infant schools. To create a vivid impression on young minds, teachers used a numeral frame or abacus in combination with a chart like this one.
This cardboard chart was part of a larger series. It has printing on both sides. It is labeled on one side: ARITHMETIC CARD II. This side shows a group of common objects on the left, and one of these objects on the right. It was designed to teach adding 1 to 6, 7, 8, and 9. Teachers were told to perform the same operation using balls on an abacus. The other side of this chart is entitled: ARITHMETIC CARD VI. It has groups of vertical lines on the left and two slanting lines on the right, and was meant to teach subtraction of 2. It also was to be used with an abacus.
A mark on the chart reads: INFANT SCHOOL CARDS, PUBLISHED BY MUNROE & FRANCIS, BOSTON. For another chart in the series, see CL.389116.04.
Infant schools were popular in Boston around 1830, and the abacus was introduced into the Boston schools at about that time. Munroe & Francis was in business from the last decades of the 1700s until 1860 or so. In October 1831, The New England Magazine announced that Munroe and Francis had just published “Complete Sets of Lessons on Cards for Infant Schools, consisting of 100 Lessons of every variety, on 50 Boards.” It seems likely that these cards were part of that set.
Reference:
“Works Published,” The New England Magazine, 1 (1831), p. 368.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1831
maker
Munroe & Francis
ID Number
CL.389116.28
accession number
182022
catalog number
389116.28

Beaker

In chemical parlance, a beaker is a cylindrical vessel, usually of glass, with a flat bottom and a small beak (or pouring spout).
Description (Brief)
In chemical parlance, a beaker is a cylindrical vessel, usually of glass, with a flat bottom and a small beak (or pouring spout). This example was made by Schott & Genossen in Jena, after 1884.
In 1881 Schott, a chemist from a family of glassmakers, and Abbe, a physicist with an interest in optics, formed a research partnership. Together they hoped to perfect a chemical glass formula for lenses in optical instruments like microscopes and telescopes. Their original goal was to develop glasses of high quality and purity with consistent optical properties. As their research expanded, they eventually developed the first borosilicate glasses. Their strength against chemical attack and low coefficient of thermal expansion made them better suited to the harsh circumstances of the chemical laboratory than any other glass.
Jena Glass quickly became a success among the scientific community, widely considered the best on the market until World War I.
Sources:
“A Brief History of the Department of Chemistry at Penn.” University of Pennsylvania Department of Chemistry. Accessed March 20, 2015. https://www.chem.upenn.edu/content/penn-chemistry-history.
Baker, Ray Stannard. Seen in Germany. Chautauqua, N. Y.: 1908. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433043165608.
Cauwood, J.D., and W.E.S. Turner. “The Attack of Chemical Reagents on Glass Surfaces, and a Comparison of Different Types of Chemical Glassware.” Journal of the Society of Glass Technology 1 (1917): 153–62.
Hovestadt, Heinrich. Jena Glass and Its Scientific and Industrial Applications. London, New York: Macmillan, 1902.
Langhamer, Antonín. The Legend of Bohemian Glass: A Thousand Years of Glassmaking in the Heart of Europe. Czech Republic: Tigris, 2003.
Pfaender, H. G. Schott Guide to Glass. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
Walker, Percy H. Comparative Tests of Chemical Glassware. Washington, D.C.: 1918. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086545707.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1884
maker
Jena Glasswork, Schott & Associates
ID Number
CH.316050.079
catalog number
316050.079
accession number
217523

Schmidt Magnetometer

This magnetometer measures the vertical component of the earth's magnetic force. The form was designed by Adolph Schmidt in Germany around 1915 and widely used for prospecting purposes. The "MADE BY G. R. & D.C.
Description
This magnetometer measures the vertical component of the earth's magnetic force. The form was designed by Adolph Schmidt in Germany around 1915 and widely used for prospecting purposes. The "MADE BY G. R. & D.C. PITTSBURGH, PA M-9" inscription refers to the Gulf Research & Development Corp. That firm donated it to the Smithsonian in 1964.
Ref: John A. Fleming, ed., Terrestrial Magnetism and Electricity (New York, 1939), pp. 112, 120-127.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Gulf Research & Development Corp.
ID Number
AG.MHI-P-8745
accession number
272511
catalog number
8745

Microscope

Compound binocular microscope with quadruple nosepiece, large square mechanical stage, inclination joint, V-shaped base, and wooden case with extra lenses. The inscription reads “Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. / U.S.A. / Rochester, N.Y.” The stage is a Spencer.
Description
Compound binocular microscope with quadruple nosepiece, large square mechanical stage, inclination joint, V-shaped base, and wooden case with extra lenses. The inscription reads “Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. / U.S.A. / Rochester, N.Y.” The stage is a Spencer. An inscription on the base reads “ATLANTEX & ZIELER CORP / DEDHAM / MASS. 326-7410.”
This microscope was used at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, a facility in Shrewesbury, Ma., in which the biologist, Gregory Pincus, conducted research leading to the first oral contraceptive. Anne P. Merrill, who worked on that project, donated it to the Smithsonian.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1940
maker
Bausch & Lomb
ID Number
1991.0881.01.1
catalog number
1991.0881.01.1
accession number
1991.0881

Tags for an IBM Tabulating Machine

Attached to this paper tag by a piece of copper wire is a metal tag with the number 1345 etched on it. Also attached to the tag is a piece of regular wire with was probably used to attach the tag to the tabulator.
Description
Attached to this paper tag by a piece of copper wire is a metal tag with the number 1345 etched on it. Also attached to the tag is a piece of regular wire with was probably used to attach the tag to the tabulator. Written on the front of the tag is this information: '10 counter machine on a Type 4 extended base for Dr. Wood of Columbia,Un. Built 1929 Engineers: Lake, Daly Lowcrantz
For a related object, see 1990.0693.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1929
maker
IBM
ID Number
1990.0693.01.01
accession number
1990.0693
catalog number
1990.0693.01.01

Sheet, IBM Form I.T.S. 1000 A 1033

This unmarked answer sheet, published by IBM, is for standardized tests. There is room for 300 answers which may be either “A” or “B” (e.g. a total of 600 marks). These answers were to be entered with a pencil – the sheet warns: BE SURE YOUR ANSWERS ARE HEAVY AND BLACK.
Description
This unmarked answer sheet, published by IBM, is for standardized tests. There is room for 300 answers which may be either “A” or “B” (e.g. a total of 600 marks). These answers were to be entered with a pencil – the sheet warns: BE SURE YOUR ANSWERS ARE HEAVY AND BLACK. (/) ERASE COMPLETELY ANY ANSWER YOU WISH TO CHANGE. Another mark on the card reads: IBM FORM I.T.S. 1000 A 1003. The name of the test for which this is a score sheet is not listed. The information requested is that one would expect to ask of adults.
IBM entered the test scoring business in 1937 with the introduction if the IBM 805, a device that was sold through 1963.
References on IBM and Watson Labs:
Bashe, Charles J.; Lyle R. Johnson; John H. Palmer; Emerson W. Pugh, IBM’s Early Computers, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1985.
Brennan, Jean Ford, The IBM Watson Laboratory at Columbia University: A History, Armonk, NY: IBM, 1971.
Eames, Charles and Ray, A Computer Perspective: Background to the Computer Age, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973.
Wood, Ben D., "Analysis of College Test Results", in Baehne, George W., Practical Applications of the Punched Card Method in Colleges and Universities, New York: Columbia University Press , 1935.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
IBM
ID Number
1989.0710.63
accession number
1989.0710
catalog number
1989.0710.63

Psychological Test, The Trabue Scales Adapted by T.L. Kelley. Completion Exercise Alpha

In 1920, Truman L. Kelley (1884-1961) published this adaption of scales originally introduced by Marion Rex Trabue (1890-1972) in his 1916 doctoral dissertation.
Description
In 1920, Truman L. Kelley (1884-1961) published this adaption of scales originally introduced by Marion Rex Trabue (1890-1972) in his 1916 doctoral dissertation. Trabue believed that the ability of students to complete simple sentences in which a word was omitted was a good measure of the language ability of young students. He devised a set of forty sentences in which one or more words were omitted. Children were asked to fill in as many blank spaces as they could within a fixed time and scored on how many correct words were entered. The test was first published by the Bureau of Publications at Columbia in 1916. It came in eight forms, so it could be repeated easily.
Kelley’s version of the completion tests was adapted for administration to individuals rather than groups of students. It included sentences requiring completion by a student filling in a blank. This is the “Exercise Alpha” form of the test. Compare to 1990.0034.148.
Trabue, born in Indiana, obtained an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University (1911) and a master’s degree (1914) and doctorate (1915) from Columbia. During World War I, he worked in the U.S. Army’s psychological testing program. In 1922 he left Columbia for the University of North Carolina, and then, from 1937 was a dean at Pennsylvania State University.
Kelley, born in Michigan, received an undergraduate degree in statistics (1909) and a master’s degree in psychology (1911) from the University of Illinois, and a doctorate from Columbia University (1914). After various teaching and government positions, he went to Stanford University in 1920 and then to the graduate school of education at Harvard in 1931, where he spent the rest of his career.
For examples of other scales associated with Trabue and associates, see MA.316371.070 and MA.316371.132.
References:
Gray, W.S., “Descriptive List of Standard Tests,” Elementary school Journal, 1918, 17, p. 32.
“Marion Rex Trabue Penn State Dean,” New York Times, January 13, 1972, p. 44.
Trabue, M.R., “Completion-test Language Scales,” PhD. Dissertation, New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1916.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1920
author
Kelley, Truman L.
maker
Columbia University. Teachers College
ID Number
1990.0034.147
accession number
1990.0034
catalog number
1990.0034.147

Psychological Test Score Sheet, Bellevue Scattergram

Psychologists giving a battery of tests that netted a single score such as mental age, developmental age, or an IQ sought to gain a better understanding of the factors that went into that score.
Description
Psychologists giving a battery of tests that netted a single score such as mental age, developmental age, or an IQ sought to gain a better understanding of the factors that went into that score. One way to do this was to arrange the numerical data on a scattergram, that is to say a diagram that gave the results of individual tests in the battery. This is a blank score sheet that could be used to produce a scattergram from results of tests in the Wechsler-Bellvue Scales from about 1940. Tests in this examination were divided into two general categories - verbal (tests of comprehension, information, digit span, arithmetic, similarities, and vocabulary) and performance (tests of picture arrangement, picture completion, block diagram, object assembly, and digit symbol). There are rows for entering the weighted score of results of each of these tests as a number between 0 and 17. There are also rows for the average score on the verbal tests, the average score on the performance tests, and the average score on all the tests.
For materials relating to the Wechsler-Bellvue intelligence tests, see 1989.0710.28 as well as 1990.0034.034 through 1990.0034.041.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
1990.0034.034
accession number
1990.0034
catalog number
1990.0034.034

A Study of Values

By 1930, psychologists not only designed paper and pencil tests to measure intelligence and occupational aptitude, but to test personality. This is such a test, designed by the British psychologist Phillip E. Vernon (1905-1897) and Harvard faculty member Gordon W.
Description
By 1930, psychologists not only designed paper and pencil tests to measure intelligence and occupational aptitude, but to test personality. This is such a test, designed by the British psychologist Phillip E. Vernon (1905-1897) and Harvard faculty member Gordon W. Allport (1897-1967). The test sought to classify people according to whether they most valued theoretical, economic, aesthetic, social, political, or religious considerations. Revised versions of the examination were prepared at least as late as 2003.
Compare 1989.0710,10 (1931), 1990.0034.169 (1931), and 1990.0034.069 (1951 edition).
Included with this example of “A Study of Values” is a score sheet.
Reference:
Piotr K. Oles and H. J.M. Hermans, “Allport-Vernon Study of Values,” Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2010 (online).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1931
maker
Vernon, Phillip E.
Allport, Gordon W.
Houghton Mifflin Company
ID Number
1989.0710.10
accession number
1989.0710
catalog number
1989.0710.10

Psychological Test, Cross-Out Tests, Schedule E Answer Sheet

This sheet gives answers to the group of tests that formed the Mental Survey Scale developed by Sidney Pressey while he was on the faculty of the University of Indiana.
Description
This sheet gives answers to the group of tests that formed the Mental Survey Scale developed by Sidney Pressey while he was on the faculty of the University of Indiana. The answers to Part I of the test correspond to the questions posed in Form E of the test (for the test, see 1990.0034.016). For more information about Pressey, see also 1990.0034.014.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Indiana University. Department of Psychology
ID Number
1990.0034.016
catalog number
1990.0034.016
accession number
1990.0034

National Live-Keyboard Adding Machine

This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a steel frame painted brown and green, ten columns of green and white plastic keys, four rubber feet, a green rubber-covered cord, and a paper tape. Keys for odd digits are concave, and those for even digits are flat.
Description
This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a steel frame painted brown and green, ten columns of green and white plastic keys, four rubber feet, a green rubber-covered cord, and a paper tape. Keys for odd digits are concave, and those for even digits are flat. On the right side are keys for multiplication, subtraction, addition, clearance, S, and #. Inside these is a lever labeled REPEAT. Numbers appear in ten windows above the keyboard. Three decimal markers slide along the bottom of this register. The paper tape is 2-1/4” wide and on a carriage at the back of the machine. A serrated edge helps cut the paper tape. The spools for the ribbon are under metal covers, which are screwed down. A lever on the top left sets the print spacing at single space, double space or non-print. Of eleven columns of type; ten are for digits and one is for special characters. The on/off switch is near the bottom on the left side front. The machine has a black plastic cover.
A mark on the front reads: National. A tag attached to the base of the front reads: 11KN 379095. The machine was purchased second hand by optometrist Arthur Cowan in the 1950s and used regularly until about 1985.
National Cash Register began selling adding machines in 1944, when it acquired the Allen Wales Corporation. By 1952, when this machine was made, mention of Allen Wales had dropped from NCR adding machines.
Reference:
Accession File.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1952
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
1996.0097.01
accession number
1996.0097
catalog number
1996.0097.01

Geometric Model, L. Brill No. 24. Ser. 3 No. 14, Hyperbolic Paraboloid

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, students studying technical subjects often learned about the representation of surfaces by equations in courses in solid analytic geometry.
Description
In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, students studying technical subjects often learned about the representation of surfaces by equations in courses in solid analytic geometry. Schools in Europe, the United States, and Japan sometimes purchased models to illustrate such surfaces. This object is part of series of models of quadric surfaces (surfaces of degree two) designed in 1878 by Rudolf Diesel, then a student at the technical high school in Munich. It was published by the firm of Ludwig Brill in Darmstadt.
The saddle-shaped plaster model shows a hyperbolic paraboloid. The surface is represented by the equation: + y2/ b2 - x2/a2 = - 2z. Sections by any plane where x = c or y=c (c being an arbitrary constant) are parabolas. Sections parallel to the plane z = 0 are hyperbolas. One hyperbola and one parabola both of which pass through the center of the surface, are shown on the model. Also shown are various planar cuts.
A paper tag on the model reads: Hyperbo [. . .] sches Paraboloid. (/) Verl. v. [. . .] Brill. 3. Serie Nr. 14.
For a version of this model published by Brill’s successor, Martin Schilling, see 1990.0571.13.
References:
Ludwig Brill, Catalog mathematischer Modelle. . ., Darmstadt: L. Brill, 1892, p. 7, 59.
Henry Burchard Fine and Henry Dallas Thompson, Coordinate Geometry, New York: Macmillan Company, 1931, p. 243-244, Figure 5.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1878-1900
maker
Brill, L.
ID Number
1990.0571.12
catalog number
1990.0571.12
accession number
1990.0571

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