Where, how far, and how much? People have invented an astonishing array of devices to answer seemingly simple questions like these. Measuring and mapping objects in the Museum's collections include the instruments of the famous—Thomas Jefferson's thermometer and a pocket compass used by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition across the American West. A timing device was part of the pioneering motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge in the late 1800s. Time measurement is represented in clocks from simple sundials to precise chronometers for mapping, surveying, and finding longitude. Everyday objects tell part of the story, too, from tape measures and electrical meters to more than 300 scales to measure food and drink. Maps of many kinds fill out the collections, from railroad surveys to star charts. |
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Selected Objects |
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Astronomical Spectroscope
This is a spectroscope, designed to be used with a telescope to study the light of the sun. It was made in Dublin in 1877 by the famous instrument maker ...
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Bond Marine Chronometer
In the 19th century, portable marine timekeepers called chronometers became indispensable instruments for determining longitude at sea. To use a marine chronometer, outbound sailors would set their timepieces to the ...
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Chaumont HQ Battle Map
Gen. John J. Pershing commanded the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. When he arrived in France, he established his headquarters at Chaumont, where his war room included this ...
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Clinical Axial Thermometer
How do you know you are running a temperature? Do you feel hot or do you feel cold? There are many ways to determine body temperature. A hand placed on ...
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Howells, Barraud & Jamison Marine Chronometer
In the 18th century, inventing a practical way to determine time and place was so important to the security of seafaring imperial nations of Western Europe that a number of ...
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Lewis and Clark Expedition Pocket Compass
In the spring of 1803, Meriwether Lewis began to purchase scientific and mathematical instruments for a pending expedition into the northwestern region of North America. Among the items he purchased ...
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Nier Mass Spectrograph
In 1939, as political tensions in Europe increased, American physicists learned of an astonishing discovery: the nucleus of the uranium atom can be split, causing the release of an immense ...
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Octant
An octant measures angles by bringing two images together—that of the sun, for instance, and the horizon—and was used primarily to determine latitude at sea. The form was described by ...
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Odyssey 1 Dobsonian Reflecting Telescope
This is a Dobsonian-type reflecting telescope. It was made commercially in the 1980s as part of the "Dobsonian revolution" in amateur astronomy.
John Dobson began developing this form of ...
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Julia Child's Pyrex Measuring Cup
To determine volume, weight, temperature, and time, cooks use measuring cups and spoons (for liquids and dry ingredients), thermometers of all sorts for the oven, freezer, or deep-fat fryer; for ...
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Surveyor's Vernier Compass
The magnetic compasses that Americans used to determine property boundaries were inexpensive and expeditious but affected by magnetic variation—the fact that magnetic north seldom coincides with true north, and the ...
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Tall Case Clock
The earliest domestic clocks in the American colonies were English-made "lantern" clocks, with brass gear trains held between pillars. Along with fully furnished "best" beds, looking glasses, sofas, silver, and ...
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