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Hidden treasures series

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Every month throughout 2008 Alison Abbott looks into the holdings and history of one of Europe's unique small collections or scientific monuments off the well-beaten museum track. The series will, we hope, inspire a greater interest in where scientists have come from, and encourage those on the conference circuit with a few hours to spare to visit these 'hidden treasures'. Delight is guaranteed.

Credit: Combi Hommema/Royal Eise Eisinga Planeterium


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Articles

Editorials

Secret treasure-troves restored

Reflecting on the endeavours of scientists past can provide both inspiration and pleasure.

Nature 451, 500 (31 January 2008) doi:10.1038/451500a


Editorials

Does the past have a future in Berlin?

Not unless a research institution's managers recognize its value.

Nature 454, 2 (3 July 2008) doi:10.1038/454002a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: The University History Museum in Pavia

In the first of a monthly series on small museums, Alison Abbott profiles the University History Museum in Pavia, which recalls the key role of northern Italy in Enlightenment science.
Alison Abbott

Nature 451, 526 (31 January 2008) doi:10.1038/451526a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: Eise Eisinga Planetarium

The world's oldest functioning planetarium was built by an eighteenth-century wool-comber in the Netherlands. Alison Abbot reports, in the second of her monthly series on small museums.
Alison Abbott

Nature 451, 1057 (28 February 2008) doi:10.1038/4511057a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: Florence's botanical collection

Italy's first centralized museum of plants was one of the early flowerings of the unification movement. Alison Abbott reports on an important scientific legacy.
Alison Abbott

Nature 452, 414 (27 March 2008) doi:10.1038/452414a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: Cajal collection in Madrid

The perceptive drawings, paintings, photographs and slides of Spain's neuroanatomy pioneer record a tale of ambition and rivalry, reports Alison Abbott

Nature 452, 940 (24 April 2008) doi:10.1038/452940a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: Bologna's Poggi Palace

The exquisite obstetrics models on show in an Italian palace hint at its former multidisciplinary glories. Alison Abbott investigates the museum that was once home to a revolutionary institute of sciences.
Alison Abbott

Nature 453, 597 (29 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453597a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: Institute of Physiology collection

A cache of beautiful nineteenth-century German scientific devices that has survived many misfortunes now needs a new home, reports Alison Abbott.
Alison Abbott

Nature 454, 31 (03 July 2008) doi:10.1038/454031a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: Padua's anatomy theatre

Alison Abbott finds that human dissections during the Renaissance were rather respectable after all.
Alison Abbott

Nature 454, 699 (07 August 2008) doi:10.1038/454699a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: the moulage museum in Zurich

Medical students still learn about skin diseases from hundreds of wax models that also record early cancer research and the ravages of syphilis, reports Alison Abbott.
Alison Abbott

Nature 455, 172 (11 September 2008) doi:10.1038/455172a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: Turin's anatomy museum

Some controversial nineteenth-century theories about brain shape and human nature are revealed by an extensive collection of neuroscience memorabilia, reports Alison Abbott.
Alison Abbott

Nature 455, 736 (9 October 2008) doi:10.1038/455736a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: The Jagiellonian Museum

Poland's oldest university museum celebrates the Sun-centred ideas of Copernicus and the history of the nation itself, explains Alison Abbott.
Alison Abbott

Nature 456, 577 (4 December 2008) doi:10.1038/456577a


Books and Arts

Hidden treasures: the Paris Observatory

Giovanni Domenico Cassini helped to create an institution that pinpointed Neptune, showed that light had a finite speed � and even mapped France, explains Alison Abbott.
Alison Abbott

Nature 457, 33 (1 January 2009) doi:10.1038/457033a