Historical exhibition
The science of history: an exhibition on science in different times
Measuring the sun and cracking codes
The historical part of the Explanatorium can be found in the long glass stand that runs along half of the Explanatorium exhibition. In the first part of the exhibition, closest to the Student Inventions stand, you will find objects related to student life and science from different times. There is an old motor and mechanical resistance - do you see the similarity between the historical motor and the motor in the interactive stand?
A short distance from the engine you can see an inclinometer that measures the inclination of the Earth's magnetic field. In the interactive magnetism stand, you can experience magnetism yourself. In the 1930s, a student's coat was part of the student's equipment, and next to the coat you can see a carbon-wire lamp as they were in Edison's time. Further away you see an old light microscope next to a newer electron microscope. Did you know that in Ångström's clean room lab there are microscopes so powerful that we can see individual atoms?
Beurling and the G-printer
After the German invasion of Norway in spring 1940, German telegram traffic began to be sent through Swedish telegraph cables. The messages were encrypted with the so-called G-writer, der Geheimschreiber. The stand contains a G-writer model 52d, deposited by the Swedish Defence Radio Agency (FRA). The G-writer was Germany's most advanced encryption machine, considered impossible to break, its ten wheels allowing almost a trillion different combinations. Arne Beurling, a professor of mathematics at Uppsala University, worked for the defence cryptography department during the war. In two weeks, using only pencil and paper, Beurling was able to decrypt the G-printer's messages and figure out how the printer worked. This incredible feat made it possible to construct a forcing device, 'app', which was used from autumn 1940 to continuously decode German telegram traffic. Thanks to Beurling, Sweden gained insight into German communications, helping to keep Sweden out of the war.
Ångström and the sun
Did you know that the Ångström Laboratory is named after the physicist and astronomer Anders Ångström (1814-1874)? Ångström was a world-leading researcher at Uppsala University, and one of the first to introduce hands-on labs in the classroom. Ångström is known as one of the founders of spectroscopy and for demonstrating that the sun's atmosphere consists partly of hydrogen. In the stand you will see Ångström's spectrometer, which he used to produce his detailed Atlas of the Solar Spectrum (1868). The Atlas was the first to use wavelengths in tenths of a nanometre (10-10 m), the unit later named Ångström. In 1872, Ångström was awarded the Rumford Medal, the highest scientific honour a physicist could receive before the Nobel Prize. Ångström's work laid the foundation for methods used today in astronomy, quantum physics, chemistry and materials science. The stand displays instruments and materials associated with Ångström and optics research.
The page on the historical exhibition is under construction, check back later for more material on the different scientific objects you can see in the exhibition!