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Relics of Science History For Sale At Christie's

Posted by timothy on from the shroud-of-einstein-doesn't-have-the-same-ring dept.

circletimessquare writes "Dennis Overbye at the New York Times has some ruminations on some of the historical totems of science going up for auction at Christie's next week. There is the 1543 copy of 'De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium' by Copernicus, which you can have for $900,000 to $1.2 million. If you have some cash left over, maybe you can pick up an original work by Galileo, Darwin, Descartes, Newton, Freud, Kepler, Tycho Brahe, or Malthus. And then there is the 1878 copy of the world's first phone book: 'a shock of recognition — that people were already talking on the phone a year before Einstein was born. In fact, just two years later Einstein's father went into the nascent business himself. Einstein grew up among the rudiments of phones and other electrical devices like magnets and coils, from which he drew part of the inspiration for relativity. It would not be until 1897, after people had already made fortunes exploiting electricity, that the English scientist J. J. Thomson discovered what it actually was ...'"

5 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Re:If Freud Was a Scientist, Fire Up My Crack Pipe by Jason1729 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At least in the modern usage, a "psychologist" doesn't have a degree in medicine at all. a "psychiatrist" does.

    Other than that, I agree, Freud should not be on a list of scientists.

    Then again, Tycho Brahe took Copernicus' heliocentric model and tried to revert us back to a geocentric model to appease the church, so I don't think he deserves the title either.

  2. phones by syrinx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Recently found an old newspaper ad, circa mid-1890s, for my great-grandfather's grocery store. Despite living in semi-rural Indiana, they apparently had one of the newfangled phones, as the ad listed their phone number. It was "12".

    --
    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
    1. Re:phones by syrinx · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Unfortunately I don't have it with me -- it's back with a lot of other family records and things in my parents' basement, and, contrary to popular belief, I don't live there. ;)

      I could probably get a picture or scan of it eventually, but this Slashdot discussion will be long since archived.

      Also, since posting that earlier today I'm thinking I might have misremembered the number. It was definitely two digits, but it might have been slightly higher, something like "52". Either way, I found it pretty interesting.

      --
      Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
  3. No, I'm not wearing anything Alumini?um by choas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just a weird thought, what's to stop a kook from buying this, burning it and to call any pictures/copies a fake ?

    scratch that, even if he/she doesn't call it a fake but just burns it out of spite, can anybody keep this from happening ?

    Isn't there a 'Library of humanity' (sponsored by us all) to which pieces like this should go ?

    --
    I will work to elevate you, just enough to bring you down
  4. Re:Ugh... by east+coast · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why? Assuming that the texts of these works are available who cares what happens to the originals or early editions? It's almost like owning a mother master of Dark Side of the Moon... is it neat and historical? Absolutly, but I can still get out my CD and listen to it all the same. Nothing of value is lost.

    --
    Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.