We are delighted to announce that our Radcliffe Observatory Project has been chosen as one of twenty-seven small museums across the UK to be awarded funding of up to £3,500 by the Royal Society in the latest round of its Places of Science scheme to engage communities with their local science stories.
This project will explore, celebrate and build on the legacy of the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford. It will engage young people in the ancient scientific and architectural antecedents of this building through their own research projects. It will also look ahead to the future, by involving school students in measuring the thermal landscapes of their school buildings, and working with experts to explore designs to climate-proof the buildings.
This data and the research projects will include a new mural celebrating the story of the Radcliffe Observatory from classical roots to present day, and the collection of data on the changing thermal landscape. We are proud to be working with the following partners: Chris Parkin at the History of Science Museum, exploring original artefacts housed at the museum; Green Templeton College, where the Radcliffe Observatory itself resides; and Professor Sue Roaf, designer of the first eco-house, to explore measures to cool buildings, using the data collected.
The Radcliffe Observatory was built on the suggestion of the astronomer Thomas Hornsby, the Savilian Chair of Astronomy, after he had observed the transit of Venus across the Sun's disc in 1769 from the nearby Radcliffe Infirmary. The observatory building was begun with designs by Henry Keene in 1772 and was completed in 1794 to the designs of James Wyatt.
Its striking octagonal tower is based on the Tower of the Winds in Athens, with a statue by John Bacon of Atlas holding up the World on its top. The Tower of the Winds in Athens was celebrated by Roman architects and considered to be a wonder of architecture and technology. Its purposes remain unknown, but its designs suggest an astronomical clock, incorporating ideas about climate in its architecture.
Our project will celebrate and explore the classical ideas, architectural, mythological and scientific, which began with the Tower of the Winds and run right through to the present day Radcliffe Observatory, and finish by looking to the future and how buildings can be adapted to the changing climate. We will explore ancient observations and understanding of climate change, linking this to modern data collection through our own work collecting thermal data.