Historical Scientific Instruments

Divisional Holdings in Geology

The Yale Peabody Museum’s Division of Historical Scientific Instruments has received 3 cameras that were used to determine the reciprocal lattice of a single crystal exposed to monochromatic X-rays. Originally invented by Martin J. Buerger, a professor at the Massachussets Institute of Technology sometime in the late 1930s and 1940s, until the present these cameras had a vitally important role in the determination of crystal structure. Today, however, they are used mainly for crystal orientation prior to study with an automated X-ray system.

The 3 cameras in the Division’s collections were made by the Charles Supper Company in 1968, 1970 and 1972. Supper started out as an instrument maker in Buerger’s MIT lab and then went on to develop his own company to make these cameras, among other things. The company still exists today, but no longer makes the cameras.

At Yale in about 1970, Professor Brian Skinner purchased one camera to use on minerals in rock specimens from the moon. Emil Makovicky, a former Yale geology student, now a professor at the University of Copenhagen, also used these cameras to work on the crystal structures of a family of minerals called sulfosalts. Makovicky’s work has become the standard in mineralogy for that family of compounds. Professor Horace Winchell possibly used the cameras as well. Winchell was curator of minerals and also well known for his work on a family of minerals called the amphiboles.

The Yale Peabody Museum’s collections are available to legitimate researchers for scholarly use. Loans are issued to responsible individuals at established institutions. Loans and access to the collection can be arranged through the Collections Manager.

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