Innovators in Instrumentation: Advancing Astronomy at the Dunlap Institute
March 22 – Oct 1, 2013
University of Toronto Scientific Instruments Collection (UTSIC)
Victoria College Third Floor
Lauren Herzog (Project Manager), Claire MacDonald-Matthews (Budgetting and Supplies), Emily Horne(Exhibition Designer), Laura Imrie (curation and collections management), Samantha Haddon (curation and collections management) and Amanda McGee (curation and collections management)
“Innovators in Instrumentation: Advancing Astronomy at the Dunlap Institute” was an exhibition produced for the University of Toronto Masters of Museum Studies (MMSt) program. It was conceived and developed by six MMSt students: Lauren Herzog, Claire MacDonald-Matthews, Emily Horne, Laura Imrie, Samantha Haddon and Amanda McGee. As there were six MMSt students in this group we divided up the work and took on distinct roles. As our project had so many stakeholders, Lauren took on the role of project manager. Claire’s primary role was budgeting and supplies, and Emily was the exhibition designer. Laura, Samantha, and Amanda all took on curatorial and collection management roles.
The exhibition was proposed by Paul Greenham from the University of Toronto Scientific Instruments Collection (UTSIC), and was developed in close consultation with the librarian, public relations coordinator, and several scientists from the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics. Funding for the exhibit came both from the Dunlap Institute and the MMSt Exhibition class fund. The exhibition was mounted at Victoria College, in a space donated by the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST). It was launched on March 21st, 2013, and ran until October 1st of the same year.
The Dunlap Institute wished to fund this exhibition to highlight the exciting research current astronomers are doing, while connecting it to the institution’s past. The Dunlap Institute has a collection of artifacts from the David Dunlap Observatory (DDO), most of which were taken from its Richmond Hill location and stored in a basement room in the Astronomy & Astrophysics building. Most of the artifacts have remained undisturbed since their arrival in 2008. The “Innovators in Instrumentation” exhibition is part of UTSIC’s continuing effort to catalogue, protect, and exhibit the historic scientific instruments found in various closets and back rooms around the UofT campus.
The Dunlap Institute continues the legacy of groundbreaking research first established at the DDO, by participating in international astronomical projects like the search for exoplanets and alien life, Arctic astronomy, and cutting-edge spectroscopy. The exhibition studied these three topics in detail, while incorporating artifacts from the DDO to tell a cohesive story about developments in astronomical instruments. The exhibition also featured an “Astronomer’s Cabinet” that displayed historic objects from the DDO, as well as a Data cabinet that showed the progression of data collection from the early 1900’s to present. There is also a feedback area where visitors are asked to write down what questions they would like astronomers to explore in the future. This echoes the “Ask an Astronomer” panel, which features questions gathered through social media that were then answered by astronomers from the Dunlap Institute. In the search for distant galaxies, exoplanets and life beyond Earth, the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics is an international leader. The current and next generation of astronomers at the University of Toronto are creating their own innovative instruments in collaboration with institutions around the world. This exhibition highlighted three areas of research at the Dunlap: spectroscopy, Arctic astronomy and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Artifacts, activities and models show how astronomical instruments are developed and used to make groundbreaking discoveries.
Science exhibition
astronomy, astrophysics, science, Dunlap Institute, exoplanets, spectroscopy,
