Brown University Library Special Collections History of Science Collections Frontispiece (detail) from Curiosities of Entomology (London: Groombridge and Sons, 1871) “Each time there is a transmission there is a transformation.” — David Pingree, Brown University Professor and Professor of History of Mathematics and Classics, 1971–2005 Brown University History of Science Collections The Theoriques of the Seven Planets (London, 1602) and From astronomical events to zoological phenomena, the Bartholomaeus Keckermann’s Systema Compendiosum History of Science Collections at Brown University cover Totius Mathematices (Hanover, 1617). Also covered in the an extraordinary range of subject matter. They are among Williams Table collection are navigation, natural history, the largest collections of their kind, indelible reminders plant physiology, and astronomy. Standout items include of the unrelenting, albeit frequently painful, progress of three 18th century editions of Euclid’s Geometry, Richard science, technology, and medicine from the early Renaissance Norwood’s navigation book The Sea-man’s Practice (London, to the modern day. The range, depth, and quality of the 1702), and Stephen Hales’ natural history study Statical collections are testament to the unstinting generosity of Essays (London, 1702). Print materials are supplemented by countless Brown alumni and other benefactors throughout a selection of early scientific instruments, most notably the the University’s long history. At its core are manuscripts, telescope used by astronomer and Brown faculty member Albert E. Lownes (Class of books and other printed materials that document seminal Benjamin West to track the transit of Venus in 1769. 1920), collector and lecturer in the history of science scientific and mathematical advances as well as the social The Lownes Collection of application of scientific technology. These materials chart Significant Books in the History of Science the development of a variety of scientific disciplines Illustration from The The jewel of Brown’s outstanding collections in the history of Theoriques of the Seven over the course of many centuries to recent discoveries science is the collection developed by Albert E. Lownes, class Planets, a volume from the in the study of atomic energy and radioactivity. Library’s original circulating of 1920. Containing over three quarters of what are regarded collection Early American Science and Science Education Collections as the “great books” of science published since the middle of The Williams Table Collection, representing the Library’s the 15th century, the Lownes Collection originated from the earliest holdings dating from the founding of the University 1970 gift of the double elephant folio edition of Audubon’s in 1764, includes works in natural history, medicine, The Birds of America (London, 1827–38). The double elephant mathematics, and the practical arts. The name derives folio contains 435 hand colored plates of 1,065 birds. from William Williams, a Baptist minister and 1769 The bulk of the collection, however, is derived from a bequest Telescope used by graduate of Brown, who sequestered the University’s arranged by Lownes, who was a successful manufacturer Brown astronomer library at his home during the Revolutionary and occasional lecturer at Brown. Topics covered include Benjamin West to observe War to protect it from destruction. The oldest the Transit of Venus in 1769 zoology, ornithology, astronomy, chemistry, geology, physics, volumes are Thomas Blundeville’s astronomical study, and mathematics. Among the 5,000 volumes housed in the collection are Aristotle’s De Animalibus (1476), Joannes general works in botany and zoology by a variety of Regiomontanus’ Epytoma in Almagestum Ptolemaei (Venice, authors, these include first editions of nearly all of Charles 1496), which postulates that the universe is earth-centric, Darwin’s writings, from the 1839 publication of his Hippocrates’ Aphorismi, a seminal work on anatomy, and original research from the voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle to Illustration from Tom Telescope’s The Newtonian Konrad von Megenberg’s Das Buch der Natur (Augsberg, the posthumously published essay on instinct included in System of Philosophy 1482), the first work to contain illustrations of animals. George John Romanes’ Mental Evolution in Animals. The Explained by Familiar Objects, in an Entertaining The great debates that divided the scientific and mathematical Lownes bequest also included original manuscripts from Manner, for the Use of Young Darwin and other renowned natural historians such as Ladies and Gentlemen community in the 16th and 17th centuries can be seen in many (Philadelphia: Johnson & of the Lownes Collection’s holdings. These include a first William Bartram, Alexander Wilson, and Louis Agassiz. Illustration from Darwin’s Warner, 1808) On the Various Contrivances edition of Rene Descartes’ Discours de la Méthode (1637). Modern works in the Lownes Collection include Einstein’s by which British and Foreign Published anonymously, Descartes’ work provided criteria “Zur elektrodynamik bewegter Korper” (Leipzig, 1905), one Orchids are Fertilised by for establishing a set of knowledge that can be empirically of his early publications from the “annus mirabilis” (1905) Insects, and on the Good Effects of Intercrossing measured as being true, but is popularly known for the which helped establish the theory of relativity; Marie Curie’s (London, 1862) author’s famous claim “Cogito Ergo Sum.” Also housed in the Traité de Radioactivité (Paris, 1910), the physicist’s principal Collection is a first edition Galileo Galilei’s Dialogo…Sopra work on radiation theory, and Henry DeWolf Smyth’s I Due Massimi Sistemi del Mondo Tolemaico e Copernicano account of the Manhattan Project, A General Account of (1632), which at the behest of Pope Urban VIII provided Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes (Washington, arguments for the validity of heliocentrism, eventually leading D.C., 1945). These are augmented by complementary to a charge of heresy over the author’s perceived sympathy items in the Hay’s general History of Science Collection. for the Copernican view that the earth revolves around The enormity and significance of the Lownes bequest the sun. Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia has attracted other significant donations. Recently, Mathematica (1687), one of the most influential works of Daniel G. Siegel, class of 1957, gave to the Library a science from the period and the foundation of modern physics, complete set of the original issue for Audubon’s The can also be found in the collection. In it, Newton formed the Quadrupeds of North America, which complements foundation of classical mechanics by establishing set laws other Audubon materials in the Lownes Collection. of motion (most famously, the law of universal gravity). Among the principle strengths of the Lownes Collection Right: Porcupine (detail) from John James Audubon’s The Quadrupeds are its substantial holdings in natural history. Along with of North America (New York: Published by V.G. Audubon, 1849 –1854) The Pingree Collection in the History of Mathematics and Exact Sciences Medical History and Botany In 2007, the Library was fortunate to acquire the David E. A superb amount of material on early medical history is Pingree Collection on the History of Mathematics. Pingree housed at Brown. Early works of medicine such as Lazare Diagram of anterior view of a taught in the Department of the History of Mathematics Rivière’s Praxis Medica (Hague, 1651) and Obvservationum human skeleton from Andreae Vesalii Bruxellensis, scholae at Brown from 1971 until his death in 2005; his research Medicarum (Leyden, 1659) reflect initial attempts to develop medicorum Patauinae interests were specific to the “exact sciences” (mathematics a comprehensive understanding of disease and anatomy. professoris, De humani corporis fabrica libri septem and mathematical astronomy) but covered mathematics in The dissolution of Brown’s first medical school in 1827 (Basel, Switzerland: Ex officina the ancient world, with a focus on India, and the relationship represented a boon to the collection, as the University Ioannis Oporini, 1543), gift of of Eastern mathematics to the development of mathematics received a number of medical books from Dr. Usher Dr. George A. Bray (1953) and related disciplines in the West. The Pingree collection Parsons, a professor of anatomy and surgery (1823- consists of both antiquarian and recent books published 1828), as well as the libraries of Dr. William Hunter, in Sanskrit, Arabic, Hindi, and Western languages as well a Newport surgeon, and Dr. Solomon Drowne, Prof. David E. Pingree as microfilm and photostats of manuscript material from class of 1773, a surgeon in the Continental Army (1933 – 2005) at work in his around the globe, much of which is now lost in its original and Brown’s first professor of materia medica. extensive library format. Many of the published texts in the collection are Over 10,000 volumes comprise the Rhode Island available nowhere else in the world outside of India. Medical Society Collection, which was received by Brown in 1987. Of particular note is the Davenport Collection, covering medical history, biography, and Davenport’s own writings on physicians. Among Illustration from the writers featured are Charles Darwin, Arthur John Martin Honigberger’s Conan Doyle, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Rare Thirty-Five Years in the East: Adventures, Discoveries, books that together