Learning more... The statues in the court The statues in the court A brief history of the statues A number of eminent When the Museum opened it was planned scientists, philosophers that each pillar around the gallery would and engineers are play host to a statue of one of the great commemorated with scientists. The statues were paid for by statues around the private subscription however, and Museum: Galileo, unfortunately only 19 full statues were Newton, Darwin and completed. All but one are carved in Caen Linnaeus are among stone - a limestone from Normandy in the figures that grace France. Many of the sculptors were well- known Victorian artists. (See back page) the court. Several busts celebrate Oxford men of science who have made a significant contribution to the Museum. The Museum is a magnificent testament to the Victorian neo-Gothic movement. It was designed to be a ‘cathedral to science’ and reflects this throughout. The stonework in the Most of the carvings include a symbol or object that relates to interior is no exception: columns of polished the work of the subject: the traditional story has it that Newton stone are capped by was sitting under an apple tree when an apple fell on his head, intricately carved capitals leading him to develop his theory of gravitation. depicting different botanical orders, and the A key to the statues in the court court is surrounded by statues of the great men of There are 28 statues and busts on display in the main court. science. Darwin, Newton and Galileo act as inspiration to researchers, 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 students, and visitors to the Museum. 21 28 22 What is ‘Learning more’? ‘Learning more’ comprises a series of articles 13 23 about the Museum and its collections. It is designed for older students, teachers, 24 researchers, and anyone who wants to find out more about particular aspects of the 12 25 Museum’s work and its history. This article introduces the statues of the main 11 26 court. It gives brief biographies of the subject and further details of the statues. 10 27 Look online for other 'Learning more' articles: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/learning Main entrance ©themselves. Oxford University Museum of Natural History Learning more... The statues in the court Meet the statues 4. Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) Using the key on page one, travel English philosopher whose clockwise around the court from the ideas form the basis of south-west corner to meet the statues. modern scientific investigation. He 1. Humphrey Davy (1778 - 1829) championed empirical English chemist who discovered several methods of scientific enquiry, chemical elements, and invented the and argued that the purpose miner’s safety lamp. of scientific advancement Davy rests his right was to improve the human hand on a carving of condition. These two beliefs the lamp (right). There continue to underpin are two books at his scientific methods and feet, one of them, philosophy today.Caen stone statue by Thomas Woolner Salmonia, his own work on fly fishing. Caen stone statue by 5. Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.) Alexander Munro Greek philosopher whose ideas are fundamental to 2. Joseph Priestley (1733 - 1804) western study and thought. English chemist and Unlike Plato, Aristotle amateur natural believed that ultimate philosopher whose reality was to be found in scientific work covered the material world. He physics, electricity, wrote treatises on logic, magnetism and optics, as ethics, politics, aesthetics, well as chemistry. He is mathematics and science. credited with the discovery His system for the of oxygen in 1774. He also classification of animals laid invented fizzy water the foundation for modern by dissolving carbon taxonomy. Caen stone statue by Henry Armstead dioxide in water. He was a religious dissenter and a 6. John Hunter (1728 - 1793) political non-conformist, Caen stone statue by Scottish doctor and anatomist. Hunter’s with sympathies for the French Edward Stephens most significant contribution to medicine Revolution. He later emigrated to America. was to provide an experimental basis to surgical practice. He favoured 3. Roger Bacon (c.1214 - c.1294) experimentation and observation. ‘Don’t English philosopher and scientist, famous think, try’ was his famous injunction. for his work on optics and for promoting experimentation. Hunter’s left elbow rests on a plinth concealing Bacon is depicted holding a snake coiled round a an astrolabe and calipers. staff. This is a traditional The astrolabe represents symbol of medicine, and his scientific studies, and is associated with the the calipers suggest an Greek god Aesclepius. aspiration to harmony. Caen stone statue by Caen stone statue by Henry Hope Pinker Henry Hope Pinker © Oxford University Museum of Natural History Learning more... The statues in the court 7. Thomas Sydenham (1624 - 1689) 9. Hippocrates (c.460 - c.377 B.C.) An English physician, who A Greek physician, known as the ‘father of has been called the ‘father medicine’, Hippocrates was the greatest of English medicine’, he physician of his time. His medical practice favoured the Hippocratic was based on observation and on the study methods of observation and of the human body. He differed from his clinical experience. He contemporaries in his belief that illness studied and described the had physical and rational causes. conditions that gave rise to Prevailing views held evil spirits and the epidemics, and was a whims of the gods responsible for ill witness to the great plague health. Hippocrates was also concerned of 1666 and to major out- with the ethics of medicine, and the moral breaks of smallpox. He was duties of a physician. The ‘Hippocratic a skilled and popular oath’ he composed outlining these practitioner of medicine, Caen stone statue responsibilities is perhaps his greatest as well as the author of by Henry Hope Pinker legacy, and in a modern form, remains the many important medical texts. basis of trust between a doctor and patient. He fought for Cromwell in the Civil War. The two serpents entwined around a staff, the caduceus, 8. William Harvey (1578 - 1657) is sometimes used as a symbol for medicine. English doctor and anatomist, he is famous However it is more often for his discovery of the circulation of the associated with Hermes, the blood, described and published in 1628. Greek god of commerce. Although his views were controversial, he Caen stone statue by was recognised as a leading physician, and Alexander Munro was appointed doctor to Charles I. 10 11 12 Harvey is depicted with a heart resting in his right hand; his work remains the foundation for modern research into the circulatory system. Caen stone statue by Henry Weekes 10. Sir John Scott Burdon-Sanderson Waynflete Professor of Physiology, 1882-1895; Find out more Regius Professor of Medicine, 1882-1904. The ‘Learning more’ series includes other 11. Walter Frank Raphael Weldon articles related to the Museum's Linacre Professor of Comparative Anatomy, 1899-1906. architecture: ‘The stonework of the 12. George Rolleston Museum’ describes the stonework and the Linacre Professor of Physiology, elaborately carved columns, capitals and 1860-1881. corbels in the gallery, and ‘The architecture 13. Benjamin Woodward of the Museum’ outlines the design and Prime architect in the firm construction of the building. All articles are responsible both for the design and building of the Museum; listed in the ‘Learning more’ section of the died after a bout of ill health in Museum’s website: June 1861, a year after the www.oum.ox.ac.uk/learning Museum was opened. 13 © Oxford University Museum of Natural History Learning more... The statues in the court 14. Carl von Linnaeus (1707 - 1778) 16. Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727) Swedish botanist, known as the ‘father of English physicist and mathematician. taxonomy’, Linnaeus published the first The basic principles of investigation that edition of his classification of living things, Newton defined, together with his scientific Systema Naturae, in 1735. His system of work, laid the foundations for modern hierarchical classification still survives, as science. His two most famous works are the does his most important legacy, the system Principia (1687), and Opticks (1704). He of binomial nomenclature that he devised made a huge impact on astronomy by and implemented. This ‘two name’ system - defining the laws of motion and universal a combination of the genus and species gravitation. He used them to describe the names - is recognised as the official movement of the moon around the earth, starting point of modern taxonomy. Before and the planets around the sun. Newton Linnaeus there were no accepted standards investigated the properties of white light, for naming living organisms. and he constructed the first reflecting In his left hand telescope. He is probably the most Linnaeus holds a influential scientist who ever lived. Linnaea sprig of Newton holds a borealis , and at his book in his left feet is the Lapland hand; an apple Menyanthes plant rests at his feet trifoliata . representing his Caen stone statue discovery of the by John Tupper laws of gravity. Caen stone statue by Alexander Munro 15. Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) 17. Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642) English naturalist considered to be the Italian astronomer and physicist. Galileo ‘father of modern biology’. studied motion using pendulums and by He developed the theory of measuring the speeds of falling objects. He evolution in his book, On built the first refracting telescope to be the Origin of Species by used for astronomical observations. He Means of Natural saw the craters on the moon, he discovered Selection, published in Jupiter's moons, and he observed that the 1859. Darwin’s ideas were Milky Way was made up of stars.