Location Kanazawa University Museum
The Fourth Higher School Physics Experiment Apparatus: Magdeburg Hemispheres
- Display status
- No permanent display
- Period
- Acquisition: 1878
- Form/Type
- Equipment
- Location
- Manufactured in: Boston, USA
One of the pieces of educational experiment apparatus used at the Fourth Higher School. This item is comprised of the famous Magdeburg hemispheres, used in experiments to investigate the strength of atmospheric pressure. They were used in chogaku (mechanics) for education on gases. In 1654, Otto von Guericke, the mayor of Magdeburg, a town in the upper reaches of the Elbe River in central Germany at the foot of the Harz Mountains, sealed the copper hemispheres together and removed the air inside, then showed that the hemispheres could not be easily pulled apart due to atmospheric pressure. The experiment required 16 horses. This experiment demonstrated that objects on the Earth’s surface are subject to atmospheric pressure, making it a historically important item. The apparatus was manufactured by E.S. Ritchie, a manufacturer of physics and navigational equipment established in Boston, USA in 1850. The valve attached to one of the hemispheres is used to create a vacuum inside.
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Established in 1989 to preserve and utilize valuable materials handed down from the predecessor school when the university campus was relocated from Kanazawa Castle Site. Former teaching materials such as beautifully shaped physics experiment apparatus and mushroom moulage specimens that allow you to observe mushrooms as they were 100 years ago are fun-to-see natural museum materials in the museum's collection. The museum also holds many archive such as timetables that show the hard work of medical students 100 years ago, as well as archaeological materials excavated within the campus.
Kakuma, Kanazawa, 920-1192 Google Maps
TEL 076-264-5215 E-mail museum@adm.kanazawa-u.ac.jp
