Year 9 Museum Project students visit Oxford's History of Science Museum

On Tuesday, the Museum Project group in Year Nine visited the History of Science Museum to find out more about the role of observatories, and to explore some of the astronomical equipment which belonged to the Radcliffe Observatory. 

We found out about the founding of the Radcliffe Observatory, and the instrument maker John Bird who created its giant quadrant, now housed at the History of Science Museum, and we were able to experiment by looking through some telescopes too. 

We also saw two telescopes which had belonged to the Radcliffe Observatory, the Herschel telescope and the Hornsby telescope. 

The visit forms part of a year long project exploring the Radcliffe Observatory, involving students selecting their own research projects and presenting them at the Radcliffe Observatory itself later in the year!