Radcliffe Observatory

The strikingly beautiful Radcliffe Observatory forms the centrepiece of Green Templeton College. Thomas

Hornsby, the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, suggested the Observatory after watching the transit of Venus in 1769

in the nearby Radcliffe Infirmary. The Observatory building was equipped with the finest scientific instruments for astronomical and meteorological observations from 1773 until 1934.

Throughout history, Oxford has been at the heart of scholarship and at the forefront of scientific discovery. The city itself has many historic sites that bear witness to the blossoming of modern science. Take this magical guided tour through the ages where the buildings come alive to tell us fascinating stories from the past!

Wadham College

The Royal Society, England’s leading scientific institution, has its roots firmly intertwined with Wadham College. When appointed Warden of Wadham in 1648, John Willis’ interest in ‘experimental philosophy’ had drawn many of Oxford’s great minds, including Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren, Seth Ward and Robert Wood, into ‘The Oxford Experimental Philosophy Club’ which played a key role in the foundations of the Royal Society in 1660. The Wadham garden bore witness to a range of mechanical devices and scientific instruments as well as a ‘talking statue’!

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Christ Church College

Christ Church College was the host of the first Anatomy School of Oxford University. Now known

as the ‘Lee Building’, and part of the Christ Church SCR, the school was built in 1766-7 on the money provided by Dr Matthew Lee’s will. Matthew Lee himself studied at Christ Church and went on to carve a career as a royal physician. The Anatomy School or ‘Skeleton Corner’ of the College had a lecture room with a gallery, as well as a basement used for dissections.

Modern Science Area

In World War II, science departments made major contributions to Allied technologies. When not busy

‘Digging for Victory’ or creating air raid shelters, a major research direction was finding antidotes to mustard gas and lewisite, a compound used in chemical weapons. Investigations by Rudolf Peters, Robert Thomas and Lloyd Stocken led to the discovery of British Anti-Lewisite (BAL). Today BAL is used to treat heavy metal poisoning and other medical conditions.

Botanic Gardens

The University Botanic Garden is the oldest in Britain! Founded on the donations of Sir Henry Danvers in 1621, it was created to grow medicinal

plants for “the glorification of God and for the furtherance of learning”. The oldest tree is a yew planted by the Garden’s first Curator, Jacob Bobart, in 1650. It is very fitting that today yew trees are used as a source of taxotere, a well-established drug in cancer treatment.

Dunn School of Pathology

The face of medicine was changed completely with the advent of antibiotics, which were initially

developed in Oxford. In the footsteps of Alexander Fleming’s finding that a Penicillium mould kills bacteria, Howard Florey, Ernst Chain and Norman Heatley lead a team to purify and test penicillin in the 1930’s. The mould was initially grown in hospital bedpans borrowed from the Radcliffe Infirmary and trialled on a local policeman! Florey, Chain and Fleming were awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Westgate Centre

In the thirteenth century, the site of the Westgate Centre was occupied by a Franciscan friary. One

of the friars, Roger Bacon, was a philosopher who also carried out investigations into optics, alchemy and astronomy. His many accomplishments, including the invention of the magnifying glass and the definitions of reflection and refraction, earned him the name ‘Doctor Mirabilis’ or the wonderful doctor.

Museum of the History of Science

The Museum, also known as the ‘Old Ashmolean’, was completed in 1683 and was the world’s first purpose-built public museum. It was originally used to house the collections of Elias Ashmole as well as serving for the pursuit of ‘natural knowledge’. The newly established School of Natural History lectures took place on the ground floor of the museum and the basement was used as an alchemical laboratory.

University College

On the wall of University College is a plaque marking the site of the former laboratory of Robert Boyle and his assistant Robert Hooke. Here, between 1655 and 1668, their work led to the formulation of Boyle’s Law and the design of an air pump for studies of vacuum, respiration and combustion. Robert Hooke was a chorister at Christ Church and is remembered for his definition of Hooke’s Law and the publication of ‘Micrographia’, detailing his use of a microscope to first recognise and describe cells.

Maria Demidova is a 4th year DPhil student in the Department of Biochemistry studying chromosome segregation in cell division. Art by Maria Demidova.

Natural History Museum

Construction of the museum was initiated in 1855 by Regius Professor of Medicine, Sir Henry Acland to unite the teaching and research facilities of natural sciences. The Museum is home to many natural history collections including those from the Old Ashmolean Museum, and geologist William Buckland. In June 1860, the newly opened Museum hosted the famous, furious debate between Thomas Huxley (Darwin’s ‘bull-dog’) and the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, over Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

Oxford: City of Science