Behind the Exhibit Displaying Science and Technology at World's Fairs and Museums in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

The latest in the Artefacts series, Behind the Exhibit examines scientific heritage and narratives behind public display of scientific artifacts in national and international exhibitions and science museums throughout the twentieth century. Developed from the Artefacts XX conference, convened 20–22 September 2015 at the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, during Expo Milan 2015, this volume brings together museum curators and historians of science and technology to present case studies from the United States, Europe, Russia, and Japan. What emerged is a study of the tension between basic science and technological applications, the multilayered role of history, the appearance and disappearance of artifacts, and the search for a balance between entertainment and education.

France: ‘The Republic needs scholars!’ A rapid history of making science public in 20th-century France

“…how was it possible to 'put before the eyes what exists only through the mind and in the mind' (Valery, 1960). The option selected was, for any domain of the Expression of Thought, to stress 'the immediate creations of the mind', the act of creation rather than the product, on modern thinking rather than the repertoire (Bergeron and Bigg, 2019).…”

“…This was considered a success in its combination of spectacle and pure science. In the end, as a comparison with the ephemeral Museum of Literature suggests (Bergeron and Bigg, 2019), the Palais should not so much be regarded as a unique museumneither with respect to the history of science museums nor within the Paris 1937 exhibition-but as part of a recent line of exhibitions and the concrete expression for science of the principles of the Expression of Thought exhibit.…”