death_place death_date birth_place nationality birth_date spouse known_for article_title name occupation
dawlish , devon , england 25 september 1930 abbots langley , hertfordshire , england united kingdom 1853 eva fanny evans -lrb- nee bradford -rrb- collector of scientific instruments lewis evans -lrb- collector -rrb-
 lewis evans businessman -lrb- paper maker -rrb-
lewis evans -lrb- collector -rrb-

lewis evans -lrb- 1853 -- 1930 -rrb- was an english businessman and scientific instrument collector .
he was the son of sir john evans , an archaeologist , and younger brother of the more famous archaeologist sir arthur evans -lrb- 1851 -- 1941 -rrb- who excavated knossos in crete .
he studied chemistry at university college london and became a businessman .
during his career , he rose to chairman of the family paper-making firm john dickinson & co. ltd and lived at russels , a country house near the company 's paper mill , close to watford .
over the course of about fifty years , evans also built up an important collection of scientific instruments .
in 1924 , he presented this collection of sundials , astrolabes , early mathematical instruments and associated library of early books to oxford university .
the lewis evans collection was made accessible to the public in the same year and he was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree by the university in 1925 .
through the efforts of his friend robert gunther , evans donation helped in the founding of the museum of the history of science , oxford in 1930 by providing what became known as the lewis evans collection of historic scientific instruments , the core of the museum 's initial collection .
his library is also owned by the museum .
