Physics museum puts collection list on the Net

Staff and students at the University of Queensland's physics museum are listing its 200 display items on Internet.

The museum, set up in 1988, houses scientific equipment dating from the turn of the century.

Museum director and reader in physics, Dr Norm Heckenberg said in a statement third-year physics students were each assigned a piece of equipment to research and write on. These descriptions are then edited and added to the Internet catalogue.

In the process, the students learn in concrete terms how to build a device which will measure something. They learn how other people solved scientific problems. It is easy to take modern equipment for granted. Through studying old equipment, students see the evolution of today's technology," he said. "There is a growing interest in old equipment, by collectors and historians of science.

The Internet museum is currently being accessed by 10 international users a day.

- From The Australian, 5 April 1995.

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