Magdeburg Hemispheres
notes: label: Description
content: Otto Von Guericke (1602-1686), the scientifically-minded mayor of Magdeburg, demonstrated the effects of a vacuum and of atmospheric pressure by joining one hollow hemisphere with another, evacuating the air between the two, and showing how hard it then was to pull the two apart. In time, Magdeburg hemispheres became popular pieces of scientific apparatus.
label: Description
content: This unsigned example was used at St. Joseph's College, in Emmitsburg, Md. Established by Elizabeth Ann Seaton, shortly after her arrival at Emmitsburg in 1809, this was the first free parochial school for girls in the United States.
label: Description
content: Ref: Benjamin Pike, Jr. <i>Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical, and Philosophical Instruments</i> (New York, 1856), vol. 1, p. 204
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Women's History
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: St. Joseph's College
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.325784
label: catalog number
content: 325784
label: accession number
content: 257689
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Magdeburg Hemispheres
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 cm x 6.5 cm; 5 1/8 in x 2 9/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 2 9/16 in; 12.7 cm x 6.50875 cm