Urbino, Italy

The University of Urbino is preparing itself to demonstrate to the public a massive collection of ancient scientific instruments, which mostly date back to the 18^th century. According to Prof. Roberto Mantovani, about 24 years ago Prof. Flavio Vetrano discovered three abandoned labs in three distinguished buildings at the University of Urbino. “There were spider webs everywhere,” said Mantovani. Vetrano was a graduate student when he discovered the labs, and was offered the opportunity to participate in this massive project of collecting all ancient scientific instruments in Urbino.

Urbino is known for the application and study of these instruments. Nevertheless, the city is not known for the invention of these instruments. Mantovani explained that most of the instruments where designed outside the city and then were constructed here in Urbino. Some experts have claimed that the collection included scientific instruments attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci, but actually first were invented in Urbino. Nevertheless, Mantovani denied this statement, stating that, “I don’t think that there is any relationship between the instruments that we have and Leonardo Da Vinci.”

The massive collection of about 350 ancient instruments tells us a great deal about the interest and the intelligence of people during the 18^th and 19^th century. Some of the items in this collection date back to the 16^th century, during the time of Federico da Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino. Among the instruments in the collection are some items of curiosity. One of them is a small video projector that works with sunlight. Mantovani explained that this scientific tool worked like a modern overhead projector. Other items include the first battery and an electricity-making machine.

One of the things that can be deduced from a visit to this museum is that people during the 18^th and 19^th century were very interested in studying the dynamics of matter in a vacuum. Most of the objects found in the museum were discovered by Vetrano and were related to each other in some way. For example, each instrument has a cathode tube, the first step in the invention of modern television.

Vetrano is currently a scientist with the responsibility of conducting international experiments and working in the gravitational wave detection field. He said, “I built a museum, hired young people temporarily, initiated collaborations with international experts to recover and improve the collection, and promoted studies about scientific instrument in Urbino”.