This award-winning permanent exhibition in the Putnam Gallery of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments traces the development of scientific activity at Harvard, and explores how science was promoted or affected by religion, politics, philosophy, art, and commerce in the last 400 years.  Five themes serve as the framework for exploring interconnected ideas across disciplinary and chronological lines:

• Colonial Science
• Natural Philosophy
• Astronomer’s Time
• Mind and Body
• Physical Matters

Featured objects include instruments connected to Galileo, Benjamin Franklin, William James, and Charles Lindbergh.

The exhibition took First Place in the interior/institutional design category of the International Design Awards 2007.