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the bank of the Arno is the '300 Castellani palace, the name of which
is after the last owners, which houses the Institute and the Museum of
the History of Science since 1929. The medieval
building,
restored during the 19th, was seat of the Giudici di Rota from
1574 to the end of the Grand Duchy in mid '800.
The museum houses scientific instruments from the antique collections
of the Medicean and Lorraine families, proof of the interest of the florentine
Grand-dukes in both the scientific and artistic activities. Cosimo I and
Francesco de' Medici in the 16th, Ferdinando II and cardinal Leopoldo
in the 17th, and later in the 18th under the Lorena's rule, Francesco
and Pietro Leopoldo who promote in 1775 the Museum of Physics and
Natural History and continue increasing the collection.
On display are various scientific apparata representing the development
of science from the Renaissance to the present times. Among which such
relics as the instruments used by Galileo in the experimental validation
of the Copernicus' Theory (16th), lens and astronomical telescope, devices
for geometrical and arithmetical calculation, planetary systems, as well
as those used in the experiments carried out by the Accademia del
Cimento (17th), but also scientific devices from 18th-19th.
The Institute of the History of Science, housed in the
same building of the museum, is an active intitution which carries out
research in the field of the history of science.
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Institute
and Museum of the History of Science - Florence
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