The Hindu : International : A scientific archive to open up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 02, 2005

International

International

A scientific archive to open up

By Tim Radford— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

LONDON, JAN. 1. Leading scientists plan to open up a priceless collection — ranging from a telescope made by Isaac Newton to a letter in defence of spiritualism by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — that has grown into a record of the making of the modern world. The archives could become part of a £10-million permanent exhibition at the Royal Society building in central London.

The aim is to complete the project by 2010, the Royal Society's 350th anniversary. ``It's an occasion for doing something, and this is one of the big things we would like to do,'' says its executive secretary. ``Our library and archives are a unique collection charting the history of science. Our ambition is to open up this hidden national treasure.''

The society began when 12 natural philosophers met on November 28, 1660 after a lecture by Sir Christopher Wren — the astronomer who went on to build London's St Paul's Cathedral — and proposed ``a Colledge for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning''. The original notes of the meeting survive.

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