Video Talk - Slides
BIOGRAPHY
Paolo Brenni graduated in experimental physics at the University of Zürich in 1981. Specialised in the history of scientific instruments and of the precision industry in the period from the beginning of the 18th century to the mid-20th century, he soon started to work in Italy, first at the University of Pavia and then in Florence for the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza; and for the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica; where he actually works. He is a researcher for the Italian National Research Council since 1992.
He constantly collaborates with European and American museums, astronomical observatories and different scientific institutions for the preservation of historical scientific instrument collections. Since 2005 he is president of the Scientific Instrument Society.
ABSTRACT
An overview on conservation problems in Italy
It is well known that the Italian scientific heritage, and in particular the heritage of historical scientific instruments, is extremely rich. A part of a few very important museums and collections, for decades this heritage was largely neglected if not abandoned. Since the 1980s a growing interest of the historians of science and technology triggers a series of projects, which allowed to rediscover, catalogue, study and preserve thousands of ancient instruments. The problems concerning the restoration and conservation of this heritage soon appeared evident. Almost no literature existed on these topics and no professional restorer was specialized in the field of historical instruments. About 40 years later things have changed, and today the scientific heritage is considered (at least theoretically) as important as the artistic one. Therefore, preventive conservation is becoming a fundamental issue also for scientific and technological artefacts. But instruments and machines are different from artistic artefacts. The formers were made for accomplish specific functions (measurements, observations, experimentation, demonstration, etc.) and these, if possible, have to be maintained operational. Therefore, tensions appear between modern conservation criteria and the need and the desire to keep these artefacts functional.
