 | |
 | |
| Established | 1912 |
|---|---|
| Location | Downing Street,Cambridge, England, United Kingdom CB2 3EQ |
| Coordinates | 52°12′11″N0°07′19″E / 52.20295°N 0.12206°E /52.20295; 0.12206 |
| Type | Science museum |
| Collection size | 1.5 million specimens |
| Visitors | 168,021 (2019)[1] |
| Director | Dr. Liz Hide |
| Website | sedgwickmuseum |
| University of Cambridge Museums | |
TheSedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, is thegeology museum of theUniversity of Cambridge. It is part of theDepartment of Earth Sciences and is located on the university'sDowning Site inDowning Street, centralCambridge, England. The Sedgwick Museum is the oldest[2] of the eight museums which make up theUniversity of Cambridge Museums consortium.[3]
Dr John Woodward collected and catalogued over 35 years nearly 10,000 specimens in five walnut cabinets, two of which he bequeathed to the university in his will.[4] The university later purchased another two, and the fifth was added in the 1840s. The cabinets are still in use today.[4][5] He also left funds to establish the position of theWoodwardian Professor of Geology.[4]
Adam Sedgwick began the process of expanding the collection, and purchased severalichthyosaur skeletons fromMary Anning.[5] He persuaded the university to set aside space in the Cockerill Building, but by the time he died, the collection was too large for that space, so it was decided there should be a museum set up in his memory.[5]
Construction of the Sedgwick Museum was supervised byThomas McKenny Hughes, an astute negotiator who persuaded the university to build the museum, and raised over £95,000 by a public appeal.[5] The museum was opened on 1 March 1904 in a ceremony attended byKing Edward VII.[5]
The Sedgwick has a collection of around 2 millionrocks,minerals andfossils, spanning a period of 4.5 billion years.[6][7] They are an important international resource for research, learning and enjoyment. They are not yet all available to search online but information about the collections is available on a number of sites via themuseum's website.
The Mineral Collections contain 40,000 - 55,000 mineral specimens from across the world, and more than 400 meteorite specimens. In most cases, a hand specimen of the rock is accompanied by a thin section. The strengths of the collection reflect current and historical research interests, and includeCornish andCumbrian minerals and specimens from theBinntal of Switzerland. Examples from this collection are on display in the Mineral Gallery[8]
The 'Beagle' Collection comprises approximately 2000 rocks and a few fossils collected byCharles Darwin during his voyage around the world onHMSBeagle between 1831 and 1836.
The Harker Collection of igneous and metamorphic rocks is named after leading petrologistAlfred Harker who spent many years organising and cataloguing the collection.
The Maurice Black Sedimentary Petrology Collection consists of around 32,000 rock specimens and petrological thin sections.
The Sedgwick Museum Archive Collection includes papers charting the history and development of the museum, as well as theSedgwick Club, the oldest student-run geological society in the world.[9] The Archive also includes Adam Sedgwick's field notebooks, sketchbooks and specimen catalogues.[10]
The A. G. Brighton Building is a purpose-built geological conservation laboratory and collections store inWest Cambridge.[11] It was named for Albert George (known as Bertie or Peter) Brighton (1900-1988) who was the curator of the Sedgwick Museum from 1931, until his retirement in 1968.[12]The Palaeontological Collection contains over 1 million fossils from across the world.
.jpg)
In 2009 the museum curated a large exhibition onDarwin the Geologist to coincide with theDarwin bicentenary celebrations. The exhibition focused on Darwin's early geological research and displayed many of the specimens collected during theBeagle voyage. The launch of the exhibition also saw the unveiling of a largeportrait bust of the young Darwin.[13] The sculpture was created by the sculptorAnthony Smith and unveiled by Darwin historianJanet Browne.
Admission is free to the Sedgwick Museum for all visitors. The museum is open 10am - 5pm Monday to Friday, and 10am - 4pm on Saturdays. It is currently open on some Bank Holidays but closed on Sundays.[14] The Sedgwick is an important venue for widening interest in Earth Sciences and regularly participates in Cambridge-wide events such as the Cambridge Science Festival and Twilight at the Museums. It puts on activities for families and individuals as well as temporary exhibitions, workshops and other events.[15]
The museum logo is based on theIguanodon skeleton displayed by the entrance. A display board explains that the skeleton is incorrectly mounted in an upright posture rather than a horizontal one but as the upright posture is widely recognised on the logo it was decided to leave the specimen and logo as they are.
| People |  | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colleges | |||||||||||||||
| Schools, faculties and departments |
| ||||||||||||||
| Student life |
| ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Affiliates | |||||||||||||||
| Museums | |||||||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
