Culture. Twelve scientific instruments which bear witness to advances in this field during the 18th century are the subject of the book produced by the Maison des Lumières Denis-Diderot and which traces the history of these tools appearing in the collections of the Langres museum.
A work focused not on a temporary exhibition but indeed on part of the permanent collections, this is the creation carried out during this last year by the Maison des Lumières Denis-Diderot to culminate in the release a few days before Christmas of 'a book called Treasures of the Scientific Instrument Collection. Curator of the Langres museums, Olivier Caumont presented this work which required a year of work around twelve scientific instruments which are part of the collections of the Maison des Lumières Denis-Diderot.
He stressed that these scientific elements constitute a small part of the collections but have the particularity of having been acquired over the last twelve years. “These are therefore objects that have recently come into the possession of museums on the scale of their actual age and this allows the MLDD to be able to show visitors how, through these tools, the discovery and dissemination of new scientific concepts has been able to modify knowledge. that we had at that time in the world.
The result of a long work of research for information but also of highlighting the different instruments through photographs of the object or works representing them, the new book from the Langres museums not only allows a perspective on different levels of science but also a detailed presentation of each of the twelve instruments in the Langres collection.
Never too far from Diderot's thoughts
A collection which was able to be brought together, as Olivier Caumont and Patricia Guérin, culture assistant, pointed out, thanks to the support of communities but also to private sponsorship like that of the company OP mobility. This support has, for example, made it possible to acquire a marine chronometer or even Jacques François Dicquemare's cosmo-plane. This last instrument is unique in that it is currently the only one of the twelve scientific objects present in the book not yet exhibited in one of the windows of the Maison des Lumières.
Beyond the scientific aspect and the highlighting of each of the instruments presented, this book also strives not to stray too far from the one which gave its name to the Langres museum. Indeed, through plates from the Encyclopedia or even references to his writings, Diderot or at least his thinking is perceptible through examples of reflection regarding sciences and experiments.
Pierre Gaudiot
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