The museum also discusses science and society issues related to the historical instruments on display and, through some new projects based on the multicultural aspects of science, it tries to enhance the involvement of people who do not usually come to museums, mainly due to cultural and social barriers.
One of the main focuses of the museum is actually to contribute to stimulate reflections, discussions and critical thinking, especially in young people. We will see the challenges and issues that emerged in relation to these objectives, which not always correspond to ongoing mainstream communication trends.
About the speaker
Sofia Talas is the curator of the Giovanni Poleni Museum at the University of Padua, Italy. Her main field of interest is the history of scientific instruments, mainly physics instruments from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.
She worked both on the history of physics research and the history of physics teaching. She recently co-edited, with Sara J. Schechner, the volume “Failed Historical Scientific Instruments” (Brill, 2024).