Everything about The Oxford University Museum totally explained
The
Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the
Oxford University Museum, is a
museum displaying many of the
University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on
Parks Road in
Oxford,
England. It also contains a
lecture theatre which is used by the University's
Chemistry,
Zoology and
Mathematics departments. The University Museum provides the only access into the adjoining
Pitt Rivers Museum.
History
The University's Honour School of Natural Science started in
1850, but the facilities for teaching were scattered around the city of
Oxford in the various
colleges. The University's collection of
anatomical and
natural history specimens were similarly spread around the city.
Regius Professor of
Medicine, Sir
Henry Acland instigated the construction of the building of the museum between
1855 and
1860, to bring together all the aspects of
science around a central display area. In
1858, Acland gave a lecture on the museum, setting forth the reason for the building's construction. He viewed that the University had been one-sided in the forms of study it offered – chiefly
theology,
philosophy, the
classics and
history — and that the opportunity to obtain the "
knowledge of the great material design of which the Supreme Master-Worker has made us a constituent part", for example the natural world, should be offered.
Several departments moved within the building —
Astronomy,
Geometry,
Experimental physics,
Mineralogy,
Chemistry,
Geology,
Zoology.
Anatomy,
Physiology and
Medicine. As the departments grew in size over the years, they moved to new locations along South Parks Road, which remains the home of the University's science departments.
The last department to leave the building was the
Entomology department, which moved into the
Zoology building in
1978. However, there's still a working entomology laboratory on the first floor of the museum building.
In
1884, a new building to the east of the museum was constructed to house the
ethnological collections of General
Pitt Rivers — the
Pitt Rivers Museum.
The largest portion of the museum's collections consist of the natural history specimens from the
Ashmolean Museum, including the specimens collected by
John Tradescant the elder and
his son of the same name,
William Burchell and geologist
William Buckland. The
Christ Church Museum donated its
osteological and
physiological specimens, many of which were collected by
Acland.
The building
The
neo-Gothic building was designed by the
Irish architects
Thomas Newenham Deane and
Benjamin Woodward, consisting of a large square court with a large
glass roof, supported by
cast iron pillars, which divide the court into three aisles. Cloistered arcades run around the ground and first floor of the building, with stone columns each made from a different
British stone, selected by geologist
John Phillips (the Keeper of the Museum). The ornamentation of the stonework and iron pillars incorporates natural forms such as leaves and branches, combining the
Pre-Raphaelite style with the
scientific role of the building.
Statues of eminent
men of science stand around the ground floor of the court — from
Aristotle and
Bacon through to
Darwin and
Linnaeus. Although the University paid for the construction of the building, the ornamentation was funded by public subscription — and much of it remains incomplete. The Irish stone carvers
O'Shea and Whelan had been employed to create lively freehand carvings in the Gothic manner. When funding dried up they offered to work unpaid, but were accused by members of the
University Congregation of "defacing" the building by adding unauthorised work. According to Acland, they responded by caricaturing the Congregation as parrots and owls in the carving over the building's entrance. Acland insists that he forced them to remove the heads.
Significant events
The 1860 evolution debate
A significant debate in the history of
evolutionary biology took place in the museum in
1860 at a meeting of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science . Representatives of the
Church and
science debated the subject of
evolution, and the event is often viewed as symbolising the defeat of
theological views of
creation. However, there are few eye-witness accounts of the debate, and most accounts of the debate were written by scientists.
Thomas Huxley and
Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, are generally cast as the main protagonists in the debate. Huxley was a keen scientist and a staunch supporter of
Darwin's theories. Wilberforce had supported the construction of the museum as the centre for the
science departments, for the study of the wonders of
God's
creations.
On the Wednesday of the meeting,
June 27,
1860,
botanist Charles Daubeny presented a paper on
plant sexuality, which made reference to Darwin's theory of
natural selection.
Richard Owen, a zoologist who believed that
evolution was governed by
divine influence, criticised the theory pointing out that the
brain of the
gorilla was more different from that of
man than that of other
primates. Huxley stated that he'd respond to this comment in print, and declined to continue the debate. However, rumours began to spread that the Bishop of Oxford would be attending the conference on the following Saturday.
Initially, Huxley was planning to avoid the Bishop's speech. However, evolutionist
Robert Chambers convinced him to stay.
Wilberforce's speech on
June 30,
1860, was good-humoured and witty, but was an unfair attack on
Darwinism, ending in the now infamous question to Huxley of whether "
it was through his grandfather or grandmother that he claimed descent from a monkey." Some commentators suggested that this question was written by Owen, and others suggested that the Bishop was taught by Owen.
Huxley is purported to have turned to his neighbour,
chemist Professor Brodie and exclaiming, "
The Lord has delivered him into mine hands." When Huxley spoke, he responded that he'd heard nothing from Wilberforce to prejudice Darwin's arguments, which still provided the best explanation of the origin of species yet advanced. He ended with the equally famous response to Wilberforce's question, that he'd "
no need to be ashamed of having an ape for his grandfather, but that he'd be ashamed of having for an ancestor a man of restless and versatile interest who distracts the attention of his hearers from the real point at issue by eloquent digression and skilled appeals to religious prejudice."
However, it seems unlikely that the debate was as spectacular as traditionally suggested – contemporary accounts by
journalists don't make mention of the words that have become such notable quotations. Additionally, contemporary accounts suggest that it wasn't Huxley, but Sir
Joseph Hooker who most vocally defended
Darwinism at the meeting.
While all the accounts of the event suggest that the supporters of Darwinism were the most persuasive, it seems likely that the exact nature of the debate was made more sensational in the reports of Huxley's supporters to encourage further support for Darwin's theories.
The 1894 demonstration of wireless telegraphy
The first public demonstration of
wireless telegraphy took place in the lecture theatre of the museum on
August 14,
1894, carried out by Professor
Oliver Lodge. A
radio signal was sent from the neighbouring Clarendon
laboratory building, and received by apparatus in the lecture theatre.
Charles Dodgson and the Dodo
Today, the head and foot of a
Dodo displayed at the museum are the most complete remains of a single dodo anywhere in the world. Many museums have complete Dodo
skeletons, but these are composed of the bones of several individuals. The museum also displays a
1651 painting of a Dodo by
Flemish artist,
Jan Savery.
Charles Dodgson, better known by his pen-name
Lewis Carroll, was a regular visitor to the museum, and Savery's painting is likely to have influenced the character of the
Dodo in Carroll's
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The museum today
The museum has free entrance, is open daily from 10am to 5pm, and attracts over 300,000 visitors a year, including over 15,000 school children on organised visits.
Administratively, the museum is divided into four sections:
Geology (covering the
Palaeontological collections),
Mineralogy (the mineral and rock collections),
Zoology and
Entomology. Each has a part-time Curator (who is also a university lecturer) and a full-time Assistant Curator. The museum is led by a Director, and there are education, IT, library, conservation and technical staff.
Since 1997, the museum has benefitted from external funding, from Government and private sources, and undertaken a renewal of its displays. As well as central exhibits featuring the dodo and dinosaurs, there are sets of displays with contemporary designs but within restored Victorian cabinets, on a variety of themes: Evolution, Primates, the History of Life, Vertebrates, Invertebrates and Rocks & Minerals. There are also a number of popular touchable items, which include a stuffed leopard and other taxidermy, a meteorite and large fossils and minerals. Visitors can also enjoy being close to large dinosaur reconstructions, and a procession of mammal skeletons.
A famous group of
ichnites was found in a
limestone quarry at
Ardley, 20 km northeast of Oxford, in 1997. They were thought to have been made by
Megalosaurus and possibly
Cetiosaurus. There are replicas of some of these footprints, set across the front lawn of the museum.
The Hope Entomological Collections are held by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The Hope Department was founded by
Frederick William Hope.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Oxford University Museum'.
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